WEST FARGO, ND - A day after winning the 1000 yard freestyle,
Victoria Murillo stood tall once again Thursday night winning her second 2023 NSIC Championship in the 200 yard freestyle! The race was tight between Murillo, Concordia-St. Paul's Farida Maher, and Augustana's Libby Breckon on the opening laps, but Murillo pulled away with a strong finish and overall time of 1:50.96.
Murillo hit another NCAA B standard with her winning time, which is just 0.49 seconds shy of the program record she set earlier this season at the Augustana Invite in November. Thursday's gold medal marks the ninth career NSIC Championship for Murillo, extending her program record for conference titles.
UMary later closed out the night with another appearance on the podium. The team of
Breanna Lund,
Victoria Murillo,
Jordn Wolsky, and
Breena DeLegge finished 8th-place in the 400 medley relay finals with an amassed time of 3:56.28. It was the fastest time for a Marauders quartet this season, beating their previous season-best time from the Augustana Invite. The mark is just 1.98 seconds shy of the program record from 2019.
UMary's team of
Teresa Cavanaugh,
Rylie Webb,
Michaela Desmond, and
Allie Elliott raced the 400 medley relay in 4:07.60 in the B heat finals.
Jordn Wolsky and
Breena DeLegge would qualify for the finals in the 100 yard butterfly with times of 59.17 seconds and 59.78 seconds in the prelims.
Michaela Desmond was one spot away from qualifying for the 100 fly finals, but she did achieve her season-best time in the event with 1:01.90 in the prelims Thursday morning.
Wolsky would later earn the Marauders 2 team points with a 15th-place finish in the 100 fly, racing the B heat in 59.41. DeLegge would finish the C heat final in 1:00.23.
The Marauders hit more personal season-bests in the 400 yard IM prelims as
Mikayla Brackin swam a 4:53.00, improving on her previous mark by nearly 10 seconds.
Breanna Lund also swam her personal best in the 400 IM with 4:53.60. Lastly,
Sarah Towey swam a personal best in 4:57.76.
Along with Murillo qualifying for the finals,
Allie Elliott earned her personal season-best in the 200 free prelims Thursday morning, clocking in at 2:00.39.
Keely Lacina also swam her personal best at 2:02.83.
After gaining 77 points in five events Wednesday, UMary collected 46 team points in four events Thursday. This keeps the Marauders in 6th place in the team standings with 123 team points.
The Marauders will return to West Fargo for day three of the NSIC Championships on Friday. The morning session will consist of the 500 free, 100 back, 100 breast, and 200 fly prelims beginning at 10. The evening session features the finals of those races plus the 800 freestyle relay finals starting at 5:30.
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