The New York University women's swimming and diving team is in first place after the second day of competition at the NCAA Division III Championships, which are being held in Greensboro, NC, Wednesday-Saturday, March 19-22.
NYU came into day two in fourth place with 86 points but following Thursday's events, the Violets have accumulated 242 points, 26 ahead of second-place MIT.
Kaley McIntyre won another national title, winning the 200-yard freestyle (1:44.88) for the third consecutive season and setting another NYU record.
"We had an outstanding night filled with fast swims and thrilling races," said Head Coach Trevor Miele. "The biggest highlight was Kaley shattering the team record, coming just 0.06 shy of the oldest NCAA record, and dominating the field. An absolutely phenomenal swim.
Four other Violets also swam the event. Aanya Wala came in seventh (1:50.07) and took All-America honors. Elle Motekaitis (10th), Isabel Oldham (12th) and Emery Muller (15th) all earned All-America Honorable Mention.
"It was also impressive that we had four other women who advanced in the same event, all with outstanding swims of their own," Miele added.
Nicole Ranile placed second (54.06) in the 100-yard butterfly after re-setting her own NYU record with a time of 54.03 in the preliminaries. Hope Xayaveth (4th) and Reina Gomez (8th) both earned All-America honors, as well.
The women's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Xayaveth, McIntyre, Natsuki Uchino, and Oldham placed seventh to earn All-America honors, posting an NYU-record time of 1:32.26.
Bethany Spangler competed in the 400-yard individual medley, placing sixth in a time of 4:21.68 to secure All-America honors. Calista Lynch finished ninth and earned All-America Honorable Mention.
"Bethany's 400 IM was another amazing performance. She continues to drop time with gritty swims and closed with an incredible final 50 to move up to sixth," Miele explained. "Calista also delivered in the consolation final, winning her heat and dropping time to place ninth."
Both of NYU's divers competed in the 1-meter dive on Thursday. Issara Schmidt placed seventh to earn All-America honors (417 points), while Maya Williams earned All-America Honorable Mention with her ninth-place finish (421.90).
"It was a great day for Issara and Maya," said Diving Coach Todd Kolean. "In the preliminary event it was a crowded leaderboard with NYU near the bottom after six dives. Both divers came back on their last five hard dives to move up. Maya just missed championship finals by less than a point. Issara made it back up to the podium for the third time in her career. I couldn't be happier for these two young women."
The competition continues on Friday with sessions at 10:00am and 6:00pm.
