Geneva, OH - On the first day of the 2014 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship the Simon Fraser University swimming and diving team had it's first All-American of the year as
Nicole Cossey (Innisfail, AB) finished sixth in the 50-yard freestyle.
In the morning session, Cossey qualified for the final of the competition by finishing with the fifth best time of the preliminary race at 23.16 seconds.
Cossey would go on to swim the final in a time of 23.21 to finish sixth and earn All-American honours by virtue of finishing in the top eight.
"I didn't get a good start in the race but felt stronger through the finish," said Cossey. "I am happy for the first day of the competition and feel I can make some improvement through the relays and the 100-yard free on Saturday."
She finished the race less than a quarter of a second behind the fourth and fifth place swimmers and earned 13 points for the Clan in the team competition.
Two days later, Cossey finished second in the 100-yard freestyle competition on the final day of the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championship, earning All-American honours for the second time this week.
Cossey's swim of 49.25 seconds was enough to topple the old NCAA record but Wayne State's Ana Azambuja swam just slightly faster to win the championship and set a new NCAA mark with a time of 48.94.
"I felt stronger and stronger as I moved through the race," said Cossey. "I knew I had a chance to win and really pushed for the final wall. Everyone told me I was really moving. I just needed another two metres on the race to take it."
"It was very nice to see
Nicole really rise to this level," said Head Coach
Liam Donnelly. "We managed to, on the merits of a very strong final session
tonight, push into the top 20. It is a positive result but I know our team is hungry to push back into the top 10 next year."
