Swimming and Diving . March 21, 2019

Barksdale Earns First-Team All-America Honors

Emma Barksdale went 1:53.54 in the 200 IM on the second night of finals at the NCAA Championships.

AUSTIN, Texas- Emma Barksdale earned All-America honors in the 200 IM for a second-straight season, earning first-team recognition with her fifth-place finish for South Carolina on the second night of the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships from the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

Barksdale finished second in her prelims heat after swimming a 31.93 split in the breaststroke, the fastest such split of the morning session. She qualified for the A-final in sixth with a 1:53.52, just shy of her school record time (1:53.27) that she set at last month’s SEC Championships.

The Gamecocks senior, now a two-time All-American in the 200 IM, will hope for more A-final races this week after winning the SEC Championship in the 400 IM in addition to qualifying for the 200 breaststroke with a third-place finish at the SEC Championships.

The first day of prelims also saw Christina Lappin set a new Carolina school record in the 50 freestyle at 22.29. Lappin fell just two tenth’s of a second shy of qualifying for a second-swim in her first-career NCAA Championship event.

South Carolina will have five chances at second-swims on day three of the NCAA Championships with Carolina swimmers set to compete in the 400 IM (Barksdale), 100 butterfly (Hallie Kinsey & Christina Lappin), 200 freestyle (Emily Cornell) and 100 breaststoke (Albury Higgs). Both Carolina divers, Mikaela Lujan and Marissa Roth, will take their shots at All-America status on day three in the three-meter diving competition.

Day three prelims will begin Friday at 10 a.m. ET, with the third finals session set to begin at 6 p.m. ET.

Day Three Schedule of Events:
Friday, March 22- Prelims, 10 a.m.