GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (Feb. 9, 2022) –
Cheyenne Parks set a school record and posted a NCAA Division II B time standard in the 200-yard individual medley for Oklahoma Christian on Wednesday on the opening day of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships at El Pomar Natatorium.
Parks also joined teammates
Vivian Pitsch,
Andrea Rogers and
Olivia Rollen in establishing another school mark in the 200 medley relay, one of five swimming events contested on the day.
OC stood third among seven squads in the team race with 162 points, trailing meet host Colorado Mesa 387.5) and Colorado School of Mines (207.5). Western Colorado (132) was fourth.
A sophomore from Guthrie, Okla., Parks lowered her own school record during the morning preliminary 200 IM race, then dropped it again in the nighttime final. She placed third in 2:06.06, meeting the B standard, and her altitude-adjusted time of 2:04.86 now is the Eagles' new school record. She also earned a second-team All-RMAC honor with that finish.
In the 200 medley relay, Pitsch, Rogers, Parks and Rollen combined to finish in 1:46.70, good for a second-place finish, which earned them All-RMAC first-team honors. At last year's RMAC meet, the OC quartet of
Hope Hill,
Jamie McGarrigle, Parks and Rollen set the previous school record of 1:47.76.
Wednesday's relay race was the 200 freestyle relay and the Eagles took third in 1:37.05, with Hill, Pitsch,
Jaiden Branstrom and Rollen swimming the four legs. Another OC relay team of
Madysen Monroe,
Hannah Day,
Eden Chiu-Pinheiro and Rogers won the B final in the event (and placed ninth overall) in 1:38.44.
Sophomore
Kayci McKinnon of Trophy Club, Texas, posted the Eagles' second-best individual finish on the night, taking fourth in the 1,000 freestyle in 10:38.56 (10:27.16 altitude adjusted).
Mallory Mead, a sophomore from Timonium, Md., placed eighth in 10:52.66.
Four OC swimmers qualified for the B final in the 50 freestyle, with Rollen placing 11th in 24.31 seconds, Hill 12th in 24.53 seconds, Pitsch 13th in 24.76 seconds and Branstrom 15th in 25.05 seconds.
Events to be contested Thursday will be the 100 butterfly, 400 individual medley, 200 freestyle and 400 medley relay. Preliminaries will begin at 10 a.m. Central (9 a.m. local) with the finals to start at 6 p.m. Central (5 p.m. local). The meet will run through Saturday.
