Mayrovich and Kuzhil Break School-Records on the Second Day of the NCAA Championships

March 20, 2009

COLLEGE STATION, Texas –

Kansas’ Maria Mayrovich and Iuliia Kuzhil each placed 21st in the preliminaries of their respective events Friday afternoon at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in College Station, Texas. All-American diver Erin Mertz placed 17th in the three-meter diving competition.

Mayrovich touched the wall in a time of 1:46.19 for the 200 yard freestyle. Mayrovich broke the 200 yard freestyle school-record by 0.82 seconds. The previous record was set by Amy Gruber in 2005. Mayrovich, however, barely missed qualifying for a finals berth by 0.78 seconds.

Kuzhil finished in a time of 53.06 seconds in the 100 yard backstroke. That time was 0.39 seconds faster than the school-record time that she set at the Big 12 Championships. Kuzhil, like Mayrovich narrowly missed qualifying for a finals berth by 0.21 seconds.

Mertz, an all-american on the one-meter board, continued her strong diving with a 17th place finish on the three-meter board. Mertz scored 306.05 points, which was just 15.70 points shy of making a return trip to the finals.

Mayrovich will participate in the 100 yard freestyle and Mertz will dive on the platform on Saturday, the final day of the NCAA Championships. Kuzhil has participated in her final event of the season.

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