Gophers Pass Eagles on Final Day, Finish in 6th Place

Photo courtesy of Brian Schneider Photography

BOYDS, Md. — Goucher scored 85 points on the final day of the 2016 Landmark Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, enough to pass Juniata and finish in sixth place with a final total of 257 points.

Heading into today's six-event card, the Gophers were in seventh place with 172 points and trailed the Eagles by 19.

It helped head coach Thomas Till's squad's cause that one of its swimmers was the runner-up in the 1,650-yard freestyle and two advanced out of the preliminaries into the championship finals in the 100 free, and that Goucher's entry in the 400 free relay finished one spot higher and 1.35 seconds faster than Juniata's.

Alexis Regopoulos (Fitchburg, Mass./North Middlesex Regional) got things started for the Gophers today, earning 17 points with her second-place performance in the 1650 free. On the way to recording a time of 18:05.18, her 1000 free split was 10:52.94, which breaks the school record for that distance.

First place in the 1650 free went to Lindsey Vankirk from Susquehanna (18:00.69).

In the 100 free, Ila Jackson (Columbia, Md./homeschooled) placed fourth overall (:55.29) and Lizzy Hannifin (Denver, Colo./East) was eighth (:56.17).

Goucher had three swimmers in the consolation finals: Molly Brenton (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Twp.) placed 11th in the 200-yard backstroke (2:20.30), Samantha Epworth (Fair Oaks, Calif./Bella Vista) was 12th in the 200-yard butterfly (2:32.13) and Kyanna Cadwallader (Gainesville, Fla./Gainesville) was 14th in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:42.15).

The Gophers took a six point lead over Juniata into the meet's final event, the 400 free relay. The foursome of Jackson, Brenton, Cadwallader and Hannifin placed fifth and was clocked at 3:45.27, which is a new school record. Juniata's entry was sixth (3:46.62).

Goucher finished with a team score of 257 points, an improvement of 80 over the Gophers' point total at the 2015 conference meet.