EDMOND, Okla. (Sept. 21, 2019) –
Cheyenne Parks made her Oklahoma Christian swimming debut a memorable one, winning one event and setting a school record in another as the Eagles opened their season Saturday afternoon in the Sam Freas Invitational.
Parks, a freshman from nearby Guthrie, took top honors among 29 competitors in the 200-yard freestyle at the Edmond YMCA Recreation and Aquatic Center, finishing in 1:58.20.
But that might not have been Parks' best performance, as later in the afternoon, she set a school record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.37, good for a second-place finish among 26 swimmers. The former record of 1:01.09 was set by current OC junior
Heidi Fritscher last November in the Tiger Invitational in San Antonio.
The meet featured a mix of NCAA Division II teams (OC, Oklahoma Baptist and Nebraska-Kearney), Division III (University of the Ozarks (Ark.)), NAIA (St. Mary (Kan.) and Tabor (Kan.)) and junior colleges (Barton (Kan.) and Rose State).
"We've had a good first month of training," OC coach
Josh Davis said. "We had a few flu bugs go through the team, so all things considered, I think this (meet) was a good baseline marker to see where we're at. We've got a lot of work to do these next six weeks until our next meet, which is nice. We have a good window of opportunity to work hard."
OC's other big standout was junior
Jamie McGarrigle. She finished second in both the 100 freestyle (55.15 seconds) and 100 butterfly (1:01.64), placed fourth in the 50 freestyle (25.65 seconds), swam the leadoff leg on a runner-up OC squad in the 200 freestyle relay (1:41.92) and anchored the third-place OC team in the 200 medley relay (1:55.55).
Sophomore
Grace Hill of Santa Clarita, Calif., was the runner-up in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:18.55, placed eighth in the 100 freestyle (57.12 seconds) and anchored OC's top 200 freestyle relay team.
Fellow sophomore
Andrea Rogers of St. Charles, Mo., placed fifth in the 50 freestyle (25.84 seconds), fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:02.26), sixth in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.67), eighth in the 100 freestyle (57.12 seconds) and swam on the Eagles' top 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay teams.
The Eagles' next meet will be a dual against Division III power Southwestern (Texas) in Grapevine, Texas, on Oct. 26.
Josh Davis discusses the meet:
https://youtu.be/ZWJX7nFJQbc
Pre-meet cheer:
https://youtu.be/05KHpbaH9uc
200 medley relay (heat 1):
https://youtu.be/EvQ7ROFBqi0
