Results
COLUMBUS, OHIO – Houston’s Zarena Brown, Ksenia Yuskova and Peyton Kondis, along with SMU’s Matea Samardzic and Andrea Podmanikova swam in Day 3 of the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships.
Both Mustangs exceeded their seeding in their respective events, as Samardzic placed 35th in heats of the 100-yard back, covering the distance in 53.25, and Podmanikova clocked a 1:00.37, good for 27th in 100 breast heats, three places ahead of her seed entering the event. Samardzic, who is representing SMU for the second straight season, will swim the 200 back on Saturday. She is seeded 21st at 1:52.80. Podmanikova will also compete on Saturday in the 200 breast. She is seeded 28th at 2:09.29.
Brown turned in a fourth place finish in her heat of the 200-yard freestyle after clocking the third-fastest time in Houston history in the event. The sophomore touched the wall at 1:45.68, finishing 30th overall in the event. Yuskova also competed in the 200 Freestyle, the event which she is the program record holder. She finished the event at 1:48.98 for 55th place. Kondis collected a 29th-place finish, her highest thus far, after posting the second-best time in program history in the 100 breaststroke. She completed the race at 1:00.43, less than a second from her personal record and program record of 59.73.
The women’s championships will continue tomorrow at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio State University and the Greater Columbus Sports Commission will serve as co-hosts. The NCAA Championship field is made up of 322 participants, including 281 swimmers and 41 divers.
ESPNU will broadcast the women’s championship finals session on Friday. ESPN3 will stream the finals session on Saturday for the women. All other women’s sessions will be streamed live at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com. Tape delayed coverage of the women's championships will be broadcast on ESPNU March 25 at 4 p.m. ET