GREENSBORO, N.C. – Trinity University sophomore
Neely Burns (Phoenix, Ariz. / Thunderbird) won the NCAA Championship in the 400 individual medley, while the 18th-ranked Tiger women's team moved up to 11th in the standings at the NCAA Meet.
Burns is the first women's swimmer to win the NCAA Championship at Trinity. The Tiger women's program has had three divers win national titles, with the latest coming when Ruth Hahn won the 3-meter diving championship in 2012. Burns is the first individual NCAA Champion at Trinity since men's swimmer Stephen Culberson won the 100 free in 2014.
Burns won this morning's prelims in the 400 IM and qualified for the finals with a time of 4:21.51. Her championship swim came with a time of 4:15.67, which beats her previous school record by nearly three seconds. Burns was the runner-up in the 400 IM last season as a first-year swimmer.
Emma Hagan (Overland Park, Kan. / Olathe East) and
Caroline Myers (Austin, Texas / Bowie) competed in the 100 butterfly prelims this morning. Hagan was 23rd with a time of 55.93 seconds, while Myers finished 28th in 56.15 seconds. Hagan also swam the third leg of the 400 medley relay this morning, joined by teammates
Amy Benson (Newmarket, N.H. / Phillips Exeter Academy),
Kyla Foxhoven (Austin, Texas / Westlake), and
Audrey Jacobson (Dallas, Texas / School for the Talent and Gifted). The team finished 18th with a time of 3:51.45 and qualified as an alternate for the consolations.
Trinity's 200 free relay team started off the prelims session with a time of 1:34.43 that was less than a second from the school record, and was good for 12th place and a spot in Thursday's consolation finals. The relay team of Myers, Foxhoven, Hagan, and Benson came back even stronger for the consolations, moving up to 11th place with a new school-record time of 1:33.37. That finish not only qualifies the swimmers as Second Team All-Americans in the event, but it also goes down as Trinity's best-ever finish in the 200 free relay – eclipsing the 12th-place finish by the Tiger team in 2018.
Coach Speak
"It's been a few hours and I still have no words," admitted Head Coach
Cathleen Pruden. "The 200 freestyle relay made the most of their chance to swim with a new school record, and then
Neely Burns put on a show. We could not be more impressed by that swim."
Up Next
The NCAA Championships rolls into its third day of competition on Friday, beginning with prelims at 10:00 a.m. (ET), then the finals at 6:00 p.m. Hagan will compete in the 200 butterfly, while Foxhoven will be vying for a spot in the finals of the 100 breaststroke. Burns, Jacobson, Hagan, and Benson will also team up in the 800 free relay tomorrow as well.
