The Ashland University women's swimming team is in eighth place after two days of the NCAA Division II swimming and diving championships in Mansfield, Texas.
On Thursday (Mar. 15), the AU women finished fourth in the 200 free relay. Ashland had won this event the last two years. This time around Wayne State earned the spot at the top of the podium with a time of 1:32.02. The Eagles completed the race in 1:33.41.
The AU quartet included juniors Julie Widmann (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) and Rachael Ausdenmoore (Southlake, Texas/Carroll), sophomore Gabriela Verdugo-Arzaluz (Chihuahua, Mexico/Institute Technologico y de Estudious Superiores de) and senior Mary Cargill (Wadsworth, Ohio).
In the 100 butterfly, senior Maura Anderson (Lakewood, Ohio) finished 10th (55.82).
The Ashland women have 85 points. Wayne State is in first place with 261 points, one point in front of defending champ Drury (260). Cal-San Diego (213) is in third place.
For the AU men, two relays picked up points on Thursday. The 400 medley was 11th (3:18.97). The members of that unit were juniors Mauricio Uranga (Chihuahua, Mexico/La Salle Chihuahua) and Tyler Remmel (Hubertus, Wis./Hertford Union) and sophomores Alex Sheil (Sydney, Australia/Trinity) and Jacob Miller (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard-Davidson).
The 200 free relay was 15th (1:23.22). That group included Miller, Sheil, Uranga and Remmel.
Also on Thursday, Remmel competed in the 100 butterfly but did not advance to the finals round and Sheil was in the 200 freestyle but was unable to reach the finals or consolation finals.
The AU men are in 17th place with 25 points. The lead belongs to Drury (248) with Cal-San Diego (205) in second place and Grand Canyon (170) in third.
The NCAA Championships run through Saturday.
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