Lembezeder Defends Title, MVC Record Captured

2/16/2017 8:01:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Results

IOWA CITY, Iowa--The University of Northern Iowa women's swimming and diving continued breaking records at day two of the MVC Championships.

The Panthers sit in third place at 233 points. They are two points behind second place and Southern Illinois.

A new MVC record was set in the 200 freestyle relay, timing in at 1:32.04. The team consisted of Molly Lembezeder, Crystal Florman, Autumn Roepsch and Aftin Phyfe. They also broke the school record in that event.

In the 50 freestyle, Lembezeder defended her title, edging out Evansville's Danielle Freeman, with a time of 22.88. Florman tied for fifth in the A final, timing in at 23.30.

Freshman Jordan McCullough took seventh overall in the 500 freestyle, swimming in at 4:59.67 in the A final.

Katie Taylor nabbed second place in the 200 IM, swimming in at 2:01.13. Taylor qualifies for the NCAA B Cut with that time.

"I'm used to being the underdog so now coming in here and doing so well, I'm not use to it," Taylor mentioned. "Last night was a good start to the meet and this morning I felt relaxed."

Kylie Engstrom led the Panthers in the B final of the 500 freestyle, timing in at 4:58.42 to win the final. Rachel Siebenaller nabbed a time of 5:00.03 in the event. Stephanie Jackson finished at 5:04.82 and Maya Appleton rounded the Panthers out in the 500 freestyle.

Roepsch led the Panthers in the B final of the 50 freestyle, swimming in at 23.78. Roepsch tied with Illinois State's Laura Paskoff. Abby Meyer and Olivia Knowles competed in the C final of the 50 freestyle, timing in at 24.17 and 24.49 respectively.

Moriah Ross competed in the B final of the of 200 IM, timing in at 2:07.10. Kelsey Ostrowski competed in the C final and finished with a time of 2:12.09.

"I don't think we could have asked for this day to go better than it could," commented assistant coach Abby McMahon. "We are just getting started."

RECORDS SHATTER

Taylor's 200 IM preliminary run gave her a school record, an MVC conference record and a B Cut for the NCAA Championships. Taylor broke her 200 IM record in the evening session. Missouri State's Lauren Pavel reset Taylor's earlier MVC record, edging Taylor out by two seconds in the finals.

Lembezeder's 50 freestyle preliminary run of 22.81 created a new school record and a B Cut for the NCAA Championships.

Diving

Hannah Brummel and Alyssa Deuso each competed in the 1-Meter Diving finals this evening. Brummel's preliminary dive was a score of 230.55, which is a new personal record. Emma Billerbeck competed in the 1-Meter consolation finals, diving a 185.55 for third place.

In the 1-meter finals, Brummel finished in third place, scoring 229.55 points. Deuso finished in fifth with 221.70 points.

"This is our best finish in a couple years on this board," commented diving coach Lori Meierbachtol.

Follow the Panthers at the MVC Tournament

A live-stream for each day of tournament action can be found on the MVC's YouTube page.

Live results for each day of competition can be found here:http://www.sidearmstats.com/uni/wswimming/

Follow the UNI Swimming and Diving team at conference at unipanthers.com, @UNISwimming on Twitter and @uniswimdive on Instagram.