Dec. 6, 2015
EVENT WEBSITE
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (SMU) - Canadian breaststroke specialist, and former SMU women's swimming All-American, Rachel Nicol led the Mustang group with a pair of Championship Final performances at the three-day AT&T Winter National Championships in Federal Way, Washington, Dec. 3-5.
Nicol, who completed eligibility following the 2014-15 season, reached the Championship Finals in the 100- and 200-meter breaststrokes, finishing under the 2016 Rio qualifying standard in the 100 prelims, and going on to place fourth in the final at 1:07.89. She was also part of the elite group in the top eight of the 200, finishing seventh overall at 2:30.47, a Rio B cut.
Nicol tied for 30th on the high point scorers' list at the event with 15.
Current Mustangs Marne Erasmus and Tara-Lynn Nicholas earned back-to-back wins in Bonus Finals on night two in the 100 fly and 100 breast, respectively. Both All-Americans on the NCAA level in the listed events, Erasmus improved her resume, dropping her long course time to 59.91. Her time stood as the 12th-fastest overall. Nicholas posted a 1:09.63 in the breast, good for the 11th fastest time in the evening's finals.
Isabella Arcila was the fourth Mustang to advance to event finals, doing so in the 50-meter freestyle. The Cali, Colombia, native, is the current national record holder in the event. Arcila turned in a 26.03 in the Consolation Final for eighth place.
Mustangs Anna Cheesbrough, Vicky Cunningham, Hannah Rogers and Adri Santa also competed in preliminary action of the Championships. The Mustangs return to competition Jan. 9 for dual action at Texas A&M.