SHENANDOAH, TX - The Tufts women's swimming 800 freestyle relay foursome combined for a school-record 7:39.61 time on Friday morning at the NCAA Championship meet to earn 16th in the event overall.
With a line-up of senior Christine Garvey (West Chester, PA), sophomore Samantha Sliwinski (Weymouth, MA), senior Lizz Grainger (Nashville, TN), and sophomore anchor Kathryn Coniglio (Branchburg, NJ), Tufts was over a second in front of a Stevens Tech foursome (7:40.92) to take eighth in their heat. Coniglio's 1:54.58 200 leg was the best by the Jumbos. The 2013 time broke the four-year old school record of 7:42.11 set in 2009.
Another heat was contested in the evening and the top 16 were determined out of the two races.
With their 16th place finish, the Tufts relay earns honorable mention All-American honors (finishers 9-16). Sliwinski is now a three-time honorable mention All-American honoree, including last season when she took part in Tufts' 14th-place 200 and 400 medley relays. Each of the other three Jumbos are first-time honorable mention All-Americans.
The 800 free relay was the first event in which Tufts scored team points at the NCAA's. Their two points as a team are tied for 48th after three days of competition. Action concludes on Saturday, when Tufts wraps up its week with the 400-freestyle relay.
Also on Friday, Garvey narrowly missed getting into the top 16 for the 200-yard butterfly. She finished 17th with a 2:06.57 trials time that was just a fraction of a second behind the 2:06.21 that Williams junior Alyssa Levine swam for 16th.
This is the third day of action at NCAA's for the Tufts women. Competing in the trials on Wednesday, Garvey was in the first event of the meet. She swam 5:11.71 to place 36th in the 500-yard freestyle. In the 50-yard freestyle later on Wednesday, Sliwinski timed 24.40 seconds to swim 43rd overall.
That pair then joined Grainger and Coniglio for a 1:52.30 finish in the 200-yard medley relay to place 25th. The Jumbos lined-up Sliwinski in the backstroke, Grainger in the breaststroke, Garvey in the butterfly, and Coniglio in the freestyle.
On Thursday, the 200 freestyle relay of Coniglio, Garvey, Grainger, and Sliwinski swam 24th with a 1:38.78 time. Also on Thursday Garvey was the 24th finisher in the 400 individual medley trials (4:35.66).
Tufts did not qualify for the final in any of the events on Wednesday and Thursday.
Results
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