INDIANAPOLIS – With only three individuals swimming on Wednesday and one relay team, the Moccasins had their work cut out for them on the first day of the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships. Yet Florida Southern was still able to finish the night in eighth place in the team standings, led by a third-place finish from junior Alli Crenshaw and a strong showing from its 200-medley relay team.
Only four events were held Wednesday night, and the Moccasins reached the finals in two of them. Crenshaw (Marietta, Ga.) was their only qualifier in the 1,000-freestyle, and was going for her third straight national championship. Swimming in the final heat, Crenshaw knew the time to beat was 10:00.31, which had been posted by Drury's Allie Reynolds earlier in the day. Crenshaw led for much of her heat, but Alecia McGillivray of Lindenwood eventually overtook her and posted a time of 9:58.42 to earn the gold medal. That pushed Reynolds to second and Crenshaw to third, where she still scored 16 points for the Mocs with her time of 10:02.53.
In the next two events, the 200-IM and the 50-freestyle, the Moccasins had one swimmer in each, but they were unable to advance beyond the preliminaries. Sophomore Cassie Ley (Hilton Head, S.C.) missed a spot in the consolation finals of the 200-IM by only two spots, and junior Kelsey Gouge suffered the same fate in the 50-freestyle. Even then, the 16 points scored earlier by Crenshaw was enough to keep the Moccasins in the top-10.
The Moccasins were then able to improve their position in Wednesday night's final race, the 200-medley relay, where junior Lauren Reynolds (South Elgin, Ill.), Gouge, Ley, and freshman Peyton Breault (Jacksonville, Fla.) gave the Mocs 10 more points. Their time of 1:44.94 was good for fourth in the consolation finals.
That put Florida Southern in a tie for eighth place overall in the team standings with 26 points. The Moccasins are currently knotted with West Florida, with both teams trailing 7th-place Delta State by just three points, and 6th-place California Baptist by 11.
Drury leads after the first day of competition with 128 points, five ahead of 2nd-place Queens (NC), and 61 ahead of 3rd-place Wingate (NC).
