MEET RESULTS | HIGHLIGHTS
MANSFIELD, Texas - The Wayne State University women's swimming and diving team emerged victorious from the NCAA Division II Championships, which concluded Saturday night at the Mansfield ISD Natatorium.
Wayne State entered Saturday with a 54.5-point lead over three-year defending champion Drury, but the Panthers whittled the Warriors' advantage down to nine points entering the final event of the night, the 400 freestyle relay.
Drury won the relay, but by virtue of the third-place finish (3:23.51) by
Ashley Corriveau (Metamora, Mich./Lapeer East),
Gloria Martinez Perez (Merida, Spain),
Kayla Scott (Rochester, Mich./Adams), and
Kei Cze Prentis (Shelby Twp., Mich./Utica Eisenhower), the Warriors held on to win the national championship by one point.
Wayne State had been the runner-up each of the last three years to Drury, which has finished first or second at the NCAA Championships every year since 1997.
This is the first national championship for Wayne State University since the women's fencing team won the 1989 NCAA Championship.
The Warriors, who claimed four relay national titles over the four-day meet, added their fourth individual title Saturday night as
Carol Azambuja (Sao Paulo, Brazil) won the 200 backstroke.
Azambuja's time of 1:57.08 eclipsed her own school record by over two seconds, and was just .18 seconds above the NCAA mark. She was a five-time champion this week, also winning the 200 freestyle and joining three first-place relays.
Martinez Perez and Corriveau represented WSU in the championship final of the 100 freestyle, finishing third (50.27) and eighth (51.29) respectively.
Scott, who won the 100 breaststroke on Friday, finished eighth in the 200 breaststroke on Saturday (2:18.50).
In her final collegiate race,
Catherine Leix (Flint, Mich./Southwestern) finished seventh in the 1650 freestyle (17:06.02).
Kaylee Dolinski (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson) came in 14th (17:21.97) and
Brittany Wilkins (Dearborn, Mich./Edsel Ford) finished 19th (17:31.46).
In Saturday's preliminary 200 backstroke, Prentis tied for 17th (2:04.38) and
Alex Malfroid (Shelby Twp., Mich./Eisenhower) placed 30th (2:09.07).
WARRIORS CLINCH NATIONAL TITLE - SWIMMINGWORLD.TV
