Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) – Men and Women
- Wednesday, February 20 – Saturday, February 23
- Liberty Natatorium, Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Incarnate Word men & FGCU women (4x) (results)
- Live results
- Live Video
- Championship Central
- Format change: Women will score 3 finals, with 9 in each final. Men will score 2 finals, with 9 in each final.
Due to weather conditions in Lynchburg, there were last-minute changes made to the opening day schedule at the 2019 CCSA swimming & diving championships. Specifically, the non-scoring 50-strokes and 100 IM session, plus diving prelims, were moved to 4PM, with finals starting 2 hours later at 6PM. That didn’t stop the host team Liberty from opening up a huge day 1 lead in the women’s meet, though – a lead they would’ve had regardless, but which was made bigger thanks to a DQ from their chief rivals Florida Gulf Coast.
Women’s Recap
Team Standings After Day 1:
All posted team scores only include the top 9 divers, and are therefore not correct. We have requested updated scores, and will post if we receive them.
The women of Florida Gulf Coast started the first day of the 2019 CCSA Championship meet on a high, winning the 200 medley relay by more than a second in 1:38.71.
The relay of Doris Eichorn (24.93), Petra Halmai (27.80), Gracie Redding (23.66), and Rebecca Moynihan (22.32) beat Liberty’s A relay, who finished 2nd in 1:39.84.
After diving, though, disaster struck, when Florida Gulf Coast’s 800 free relay was disqualified for an early departure after touching 2nd in the race. With the new scoring system in place for this year’s meet, that’s 62 points in what was already expected to be a close meet that the Eagles will now have to make up if they want to capture their 5th-straight conference title.
This isn’t the first DQ that FGCU has had on the first day of the CCSA Championships. In 2017, their 200 medley relay wad disqualified, though they were able to come back and win that meet. In 2014, an opening day 800 free relay DQ would doom them, however. In the 11-year history of the CCSA and the Florida Gulf Coast program, that wound up being one of only 2 meets they lost, with the other being the program’s first year in existence in 2008, when they took 2nd.
As it is, the Eagles will enter day 2 in a big hole. Without the relay, the Eagles would be in 2nd place – still behind Liberty – thanks to 6 scoring Liberty divers in the 1-meter, including 3 in the A final. Liberty used 6 diving spots to just 3 for FGCU, though. That means FGCU used just 1 of its allotted roster spots on diving versus 2 for Liberty, which can become more significant later in the meet when individual swimming events begin. FGCU maximized those divers, however, thanks to a win from Megan Wakefield on the opening diving event. Olivia Robinson and Lauren Chennault from Liberty finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
With FGCU out of the 800 free relay, Liberty cruised to a win by 11 seconds with the team of Hannah Baker (1:48.95), Emily Zimcosky (1:46.66), Emily Manly (1:48.15), and Mikayla Herich (1:49.70). FGCU would have been 2nd.
Update: on Thursday, FGCU appealed the decision, and the disqualification was overturned, reinstating them to 2nd place in the relay.
Men’s Recap
Team Standings After Day 1:
- Incarnate Word – 138
- Florida Atlantic – 108
- Old Dominion – 105
- NJIT – 93
- Gardner-Webb – 80
- Mount Saint Mary’s – 60
- Howard University – 56
Incarnate Word made a statement to open their title defense of the CCSA men’s meet, winning 2 of the 3 men’s events and cracking a 30-point lead already after 1 day (on a much smaller total-point-scale than the women, with only 18 scoring in each men’s event).
That includes a resounding 62.60 point victory on the 3-meter diving final from junior Dawson Martinez.
That win followed a 6:33.79 to top the 800 free relay with the quartet of Vlad Chumak, Leonardo Sanchez, Beau Fusilier, and Hector Ruvalcaba Cruz (a touchpad error messed up splits on the first two legs). FAU took 2nd in the relay, more than 5 seconds back, in 5:39.43, out-touching Gardner Webb by .05 seconds.
Although they were out-touched in the relay, Gardner-Webb improved their previous season-best time by 22 seconds. That foretold a big 5.5 second drop in the 200 medley relay to close the night, which was enough to knock off Incarnate Word in the day’s final men’s event. Brady Fields, Jordan Mintz, Seggio Bernardina, and Zach Dingfield combined for a 1:28.01, while Incarnate Word’s runner-up relay swam 1:28.88.
Old Dominion took 3rd in the relay while FAU, the team with the next-best diving squad besides Incarnate Word, was 4th.
Liberty women led most of the race and won by over 10 seconds! With or without the DQ, Gulf Coast got crushed in this race.
Coach Jake’s ladies are on fire. Nothing wrong with the starting system now……just some darn fast racing.
Looks like Coach Jake’s recovery bar and VIP room are working for the gals of Lynchburg