Day Two Results

AKRON, Ohio - The women's 800-yard freestyle relay squad posted a solid swim on Saturday evening that resulted in an aggregate total good enough for an NCAA automatic qualifying berth as the Shippensburg University women's swimming team improved to eighth place after the second day of competition from the 2009 Zippy Invitational, hosted by the University of Akron at the Ocasek Natatorium.

The aforementioned 800-yard freestyle relay of senior Whitney Garner, sophomore Kristen McCandless, freshman Julia Brownrigg and junior Amy Fisher placed fourth with a time of 7:43.21, a time that was 11 seconds faster than fellow PSAC school Clarion, who placed ninth in the event.

After the leadoff swim of Garner (1:53.46), Shippensburg was then able to take the other swimmers best flat starts from meets held earlier this season. McCandless's swim of 1:55.48 from GMU was combined with Fisher's Saturday-night swim of 1:54.41 and Brownrigg's Saturday morning time of 1:57.45 to post an aggregate time of 7:41.20.

In other relay competition, the 200-yard medley relay of Brownrigg, sophomore Rachael Ballard, Fisher and sophomore Nicole Capozzi finished 12th with a time of 1:50.38.

Individually, junior Amy Fisher won the 'B' group of the 200-yard freestyle, placing ninth with an NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:54.41, and also reached the 'B' group of the 100-yard butterfly with a 12th-place finish with another NCAA 'B' cut time of 58.43 seconds. Her effort in the butterfly is SU's fastest this season.

Garner and Ballard reached the 'B' group of the 100-yard breaststroke, as Garner placed 10th with a time of 1:07.71 and Ballard earned 13th place with a time of 1:07.81. Both times are new season-bests for SU. Freshman Kara Keenan was the top placewinner for the Lady Raiders in the 400-yard individual medley, earning the 18th spot with a time of 4:41.36.

The third and final day of competition begins tomorrow with morning preliminary swims.