Shenandoah, Texas – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s swimming and diving team completed the trials session of the opening day of the 2015 NCAA Championships held Wednesday morning at the Conroe ISD Natatorium. The highlight of this morning’s session came in the 200-medley relay where Hayley Booher (Warren, Vt.), Jennifer Strom (Sr., Rochester, Minn.), Kate Reilly (Fy., Hastings, Minn.), and Katie Olson (Sr., North Oaks, Minn.) finished seventh overall with a time 1:43.73.
“We were a little off in our individual races but put it together in the relay,” said Head Coach John Carlson about this morning’s session. “What truly helped us out was that three of the four relay members already had a swim under their belt. They got the nerves out early and were ready to roll when their name was called again.”
The Gusties entered prelims of the 200-medley relay ranked eighth with a qualifying time of 1:43.55. Thanks to their performance this morning, the group is guaranteed a spot on the podium and a place on the All-America Team.
“We’re excited that we made it to the bigs [finals],” continued Carlson about the 200-medley relay’s effort. “All four women feel like they can drop a little bit of time and we’ll see where that puts us at the end of the night. We’re in a position to score some big points on what is traditionally our weakest day, so you have to be happy about that moving forward.”
Individuals competing this morning included Hayley Booher, Katie Olson, and Kate Reilly. Booher placed 34th in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:08.47. Olson and Reilly both swam in the 50 free with the senior taking 21st in 23.72 and the rookie taking 34th in 23.95.
“Even though I thought the team did a great job getting itself ready, it’s hard to prepare for the atmosphere and intensity of the NCAA Championships,” commented Carlson. “It’s so razor close that if you’re just a little off, you’re going to drop. It’s that simple.”
The 200-medley relay team will be back in the pool tonight with the finals beginning at 6:00 p.m.
“Overall, I was pleased with how the morning went,” Carlson concluded. “The fastest times this morning were recorded by teams who were fast to begin with. We had to go all out to win our conference title, which set our second taper back as compared to many of the teams here. All-in-all, the Wednesday prelims went much better than it did last year and that gives the team a lot of confidence.”