Grizzly men scoreless after day one at RMAC Championships
Action resumes Friday at 9 a.m.
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – It was a light day for the Grizzly men as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Championships opened up on Thursday, as freshman Jared Machado (Castle Rock, Colo.) and junior Kenneth Babcok (Colorado Springs, Colo.) participated in only one event.
With one day of competition down, Grand Canyon Univ. (Ariz.) leads the women’s team standings with 250 points, and Incarnate Word (Texas) sits atop the men’s standings with 247.50 points. The Grizzly men did not record a team score on day one. Incarnate Word leads the combined team standings with 477.50, while the Grizzlies rank ninth with 42, just four points back of eighth-place Nebraska-Kearney.
Both Machado and Babcock took to the water in the 50 yard freestyle. A pair of PRs fell for the duo, as Machado dropped 1.23 seconds for a time of 25.37 seconds, and Babcock erased 3/10ths of a second from his best time. Neither was able to advance to the evening’s finals.
The Grizzly women's first trip to the finals was punched in the day’s first event, the 500 yard freestyle. Freshmen Jennell Higgs (Socorro, N.M.) and Rachel Beranek (Lincoln, Neb.) were in action for ASC, and both clocked big personal bests. Beranek shaved 13 seconds off her best prior mark, clocking a time of 5 minutes, 40.66 seconds. Higgs, who would nab the last spot in the evening’s event final, swam 5:25.20 for a five second personal best and new ASC women’s record.
Higgs would lower her PR and the Grizzly record in the 500 free to 5:22.46 Thursday evening, taking 16th place in the final.
Freshman Kelly Erickson (Federal Way, Wash.) was ASC’s other individual finalist on opening day, qualifying for 50 yard free final in the 13th spot with a time of 25.13 seconds, shaving 59/100ths off her own previous best and establishing a new Adams State women’s record. But she’d slow down in the final, finishing in a time of 25.53 seconds for 16th place.
The Grizzlies would earn their other team points in a pair of relays. Erickson, Higgs, Beranek and freshman Jennie Thorson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) teamed up for the 200 free relay, and posted second-fastest time in program history (1:48.69) to finish ninth.
In the 400 yard medley relay, Thorson led-off for the Grizzlies who shattered the previous Adams State mark of 4:36.46 with a time of 4:27.65 for another ninth-place finish.
Thorson was also in action individually in the 200 yard individual medley. Though unable to advance to the finals, she improved upon her previous best time by eight seconds with a clocking of 2:28.99.
Action will continue on Friday morning beginning at 9 a.m. Higgs will be in action for the Grizzlies in the 400 yard individual medley, an event in which she holds the ASC record with a time of 4:53.81 and ranks 12th in the RMAC.
Erickson will also be swimming in one of her best events Friday, the 100 yard butterfly. She holds the Grizzlies’ program record in the event and ranks ninth in the RMAC with a best time of 1:02.07.
Friday's finals will get underway at 5 p.m., and will be televised on subscription-based AmericaOne (formerly B2 TV). More information about purchasing a viewing pass for Friday’s RMAC swimming finals can be found here.
Related Item: RMAC Championships Webpage
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