Barksdale Sets School Record on Second Day of NCAA Championships

March 16, 2017

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – University of South Carolina started their run at the 2016 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships on Thursday. Emma Barksdale led the Gamecocks as she set another new school record in the 200-yard IM.

Barksdale was the lone Gamecock swimmer to compete on Thursday. The sophomore broke South Carolina’s 200-yard IM school record, for the third time this season. Her time of 1:56.35 was good for 17th place and first alternate.

Mikaela Lujan and Julia Vincent represented Carolina in the 1-meter dive. Lujan finished at 29th with a score of 255.95, while Vincent ended the day in 48th after scoring 226.70.

QUOTABLES

HEAD SWIMMING COACH McGee Moody – “Emma [Barksdale] had a great race today. One of the hardest things to do in our sport is to repeat your best performances from our SEC Championships again at the NCAA Championships. Emma dropped our school record again in the 200 IM. She still has her best events ahead of her tomorrow and Saturday. I am very confident our girls are ready to race this week.

“Julia Vincent had a tough day on the boards, but she is an elite athlete and I know she will be ready tomorrow. Elite athletes are able to put sub par performances behind them. Our divers have done so many great things for our program this year.”

HEAD DIVING COACH Todd Sherritt – “Mikaela Lujan did a great job today for her first NCAA Championships. She stayed steady through the whole contest. There were 51 divers in a very cold environment. It was very difficult and she handled it well. I think we will see some big things out of her in the future. Julia [Vincent], needless to say, had an off day. She was diving steady, had one miss and came back strong, well in reach of the top eight finalists. When she went into her hurdle on her reverse twister and got caught on the corner, she could not execute from that position. That mistake knocked her out of the top eight. We are disappointed, but we have to move on. We have the three-meter event tomorrow. We trained after the meet and made some adjustments to Julia’s hurdle. She will be good to go tomorrow.”

UP NEXT FOR CAROLINA

The NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships continue Friday in Indianapolis. Vincent and Lujan compete on the 3-meter board, while Dirrane swims the 100-yard breaststroke and Barksdale takes the pool in the 400-yard IM.