The Ashland University women's swimming team turned in a pair of third place finishes on Wednesday (Mar. 14) on the opening night of the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships in Mansfield, Texas.
Junior Julie Widmann (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) finished third in the 50 freestyle. She hit the touch pads in 23.10. Melissa Gates of California (Pa.) won the gold and set a finals record. Her time was 22.59. Wai Ting Yu of Drury was second (23.0).
Widmann was on the 200 medley relay that was third in 1:43.47. Joining her on that foursome were sophomore Sara Reidler (Gahanna, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln), senior Maura Anderson (Lakewood, Ohio), and junior Rachael Ausdenmoore (Southlake, Texas/Carroll). Wayne State was first (1:42.94) and Drury was the runner-up (1:43.40).
On the men's side, the 200 medley was 15th in 1:30.54. The AU quartet included juniors Mauricio Uranga (Chihuahua, Mexico/La Salle Chihuahua), Cheyne Fisher (Durban, South Africa/Westville) and Tyler Remmel (Hubertus, Wis./Hertford Union) and sophomore Jacob Miller (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard-Davidson).
Sophomore Alex Sheil (Sydney, Australia/Trinity) was 12th in the 200 IM. He clocked in with a time of 1:50.21.
The AU women are in seventh place with 48 points. Wayne State (134) is first, followed by defending champ Drury (105). The Ashland men are 14th with nine points. Cal-San Diego (100) has the lead with Drury (84) sitting in second place.
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