For the first time in school history, Tabor College was represented at the NAIA national swimming championships March 4-7 in Oklahoma City.
?Though we did not score any points, we swam faster in nearly all of our events in our first national championship,? coach Nate Duell said. ?I can?t ask for much more than that.?
The Bluejay women were led by two 18th-place finishes. Kelly Smith, Angela Smith, Whitney Livesay and Samantha Norton finished 18th in the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 8 minutes, 31.98 seconds, while Norton, Angela Smith, Livesay and Kelly Smith were 18th in the 400 medley in 4:17.07, which set a new school record.
Kelly Smith, Angela Smith, Livesay and Norton finished 19th in the 200 free relay (1:45.10), and set a new school record by finishing 20th in the 400 free relay (3:48.97).
Sarah Schulte, Angela Smith, Livesay and Norton placed 22nd in the 200 medley relay (1:59.48), setting a new school record.
Livesay was 34th in the 100 butterfly (1:02.31), Kelly Smith 36th in the 200 freestyle in a school-record time of 2:04.75, and Norton 41st in the 200 freestyle (2:06.13).
Kelly Smith placed 45th in the 50 freestyle (25.85) and 49th in the 100 freestyle (56.50), while Norton finished 46th in the 50 freestyle (25.91) and 56th in the 100 freestyle (57.01).
Meanwhile, the Bluejay men also turned in two 18th-place finishes:?Tanner Sechrist, Adam Walsh, Brett Magee and Ben Dorsett in the 800 freestyle relay (7:35.43), and Magee, Walsh, Sechrist and Dorsett in the 200 free relay (1:31.24).
Sechrist, Walsh, Dorsett and Magee finished 19th in the 200 medley relay (1:43.83) and 19th in the 400 free relay (3:22.50), which set a new school record.
Sechrist finished 23rd in the 400 individual medley (4:41.15).
?We were definitely nervous and a little intimidated with the competition, but by the end of the meet, the swimmers were excited to get to work on next year,” Duell said. ?Whitney Livesay had an outstanding meet with great relay splits and a new personal best in her individual event.?
Livesay and Dorsett earned recognition as Champions of Character, while Elizabeth Janssen earned academic all-american honors.
