Trinity Women Extend Lead After Day Two of the 2015 SCAC Swimming & Diving Championship

Trinity Women Extend Lead After Day Two of the 2015 SCAC Swimming & Diving Championship

ROCKWALL, Texas -- Trinity University surged to a 121-point lead following Day Two of the 2015 SCAC Swimming & Diving Championships. Official Website | Thursday's Complete Results | Team Scores | Video Recap

Trinity earned an 80-27 advantage over the next highest score school in the afternoon diving session and followed that performance with a first place 200 free relay finish as well as two individual wins to end the evening with 393 team points. Colorado College is now second and has 272 points followed by Southwestern University with 258 points. Rounding out the standings after Day Two, Centenary College is fourth with 156 points, Austin College is fifth with 112 points and McMurry University is sixth with 72 points.

Trinity scored big in the day's first event, women's 1-meter diving, as the Tigers swept the top three spots and five of the top six positions. Sarah Kate Mrkonich became the 10th consecutive Trinity diver to win the event as she scored 432.55 points to earn her first career diving victory. Sophomore Mollie Patzke was second with 421.90 points and freshman Christine Peterson was third with 417.75 points.

In the first swimming event of the evening session, Trinity's foursome of Lauren Cuda, Lindsay Hagmann, Bethany Rysak and Lydia Jones pulverized the SCAC championship 200 freestyle relay record with a finishing time of 1:35.03 - a full second faster than the old mark of 1:36.20 (Centre - 2011). The finishing time also represented a NCAA 'B' cut. Colorado College placed second in a time of 1:36.27 and Southwestern was third in a time of 1:39.11.

Freshman Rebecca Andruzzi kept the momentum going for the Tigers with a first-place finish in the 500 yard freestyle. She touched in a time of 5:10.54. Freshman Emily Harrison of Colorado College placed second in a time of 5:13.37 and senior Rachel Hure of Trinity rounded out the All-SCAC team with a third place finish in 5:16.96.

In the women's 200 IM, another freshman took top honors as Southwestern's Natalie Lesnick out-touched the field in a time of 2:10.11. Two more first-year swimmers rounded out the All-SCAC team in the event as Colorado College's Ellen Silk finished second in a time of 2:10.69 and Trinity's Lauren Cuda was third with a time of 2:12.81.

In the evening's final race on the women's side, senior Lydia Jones of Trinity defended her 50 free crown by posting a winning NCAA 'B' time of 23.45 - just .03 off the SCAC championship record. Freshman Lindsay Hagmann of Trinity was second in a time of 23.95 and junior Olivia Dilorati of Colorado College was third in a time of 24.05. 

Competition continues on Friday with preliminaris beginning at 10:30 a.m., and finals at 6:30 p.m. Click here for the complete schedule of events.