Øritsland Leads Lobos on First Day of CSCAA Championship
THURSDAY RESULTS (PDF)
CLEVELAND, Ohio— Hedda Øritsland started the CSCAA National Invitational Championship in a memorable manner, providing The University of New Mexico swim team its first win in record fashion.
Øritsland swam a 24.09 in the 50-yard butterfly earlier on Thursday to open up the championship meet for the Lobos, earning the second-fastest time in the preliminary round to advance to the final. In the final, the freshman improved on her time by 0.26 seconds to win the event by 0.02 seconds, earning 24 points towards UNM’s team total. Her time of 23.83 in the final was a meet record, beating the time that was set in the prelims that morning of 24.05. Making it even more significant was that it was the first time that Øritsland had swam a 50-yard butterfly in a meet this season.
The Lobos picked up 63.5 points on the first day of competition, with four individual scorers and a relay team.
Klara Farkas scored the second-highest points for UNM in the 200-yard IM, and in the process nearly missed the school record. Farkas finished eighth overall with 2:02.78 to earn 15 team points, 0.07 seconds slower than the current UNM record held by Emily McGill that was set in 2017.
In the 50-yard breaststroke, UNM had two scorers in Katie Pollock and Asami Terada, adding 20.50 points. Pollock placed 10th in the event, swimming a 29.23 in the final after recording a time of 29.05 in the preliminary round, and produced 13 points for her top-10 finish. Terada swam nearly identical times in both the preliminary round and the B final, with 29.27 and 29.28, respectively, tying for 13th -place in the final for 7.50 points.
Øritsland, Farkas, Pollock and Brooke Zukowski scored the final four points in the 200-yard freestyle relay on a 19th-place result and time of 1:34.98.
Pollack later added a season best time in the 200-yard IM with a finish of 2:05.69, shaving 0.21 off of her event time.
Swimming for the first time as a relay team this season, Mari Aoki, Terada, Pollock and Zukowski recorded a time of 3:51.04 in the 400-yard medley relay to complete the night.
Other Lobos made a first appearance in an event at the championship meet as well.
In her first appearance in the 50-yard backstroke this season, Øritsland swam a 26.40 to finish outside of the finals in 28th. Also making her first appearance in an event in the meet was Zukowski, who swam a time of 31.26 in the prelims of the 50-yard breaststroke.
The Lobos will have another full schedule on Friday with swimmers in five events, competing in all but the 100-yard backstroke, and one relay.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
200 Medley Relay
— 10 Minute Break —
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
— 20 Minute Break —
800 Freestyle Relay