Swimming - M | 3/11/2015 10:07:00 PM

Indianapolis, IN - The Simon Fraser University women's 200-IM relay team earned a tenth place finish on Day One of the 2015 NCAA Division II National Championships Wednesday afternoon, propelling the team to 18th position overall at the meet.

The team of Grace Ni, Meaghan Frenks, Nicole Cossey and Alexandria Schofield was Simon Fraser's top performance on the first day of competition, while many more races are set for the days to come.

The Clan's sole diver, Elizabeth Durward, had a career performance in the 2015 diving qualifiers, earning a position in the one-metre finals Thursday.

 At the 2014 championships, her first national event at the collegiate level, Durward earned 34th and 27th places in her two events, meaning this season's competition marked a large improvement for the junior, who in making the final will automatically finish better than 23rd.

Back at the swimming portion of the competition, the Clan got off to a rocky start as freshman Adrian VanderHelm, the Clan's first male swimmer to qualify for the NCAA Championships, was disqualified from his 200-yard IM competition.

VanderHelm had turned in a very strong performance which would have earned him a spot in the finals while breaking the SFU school record, but officials later determined that the brand-name logo on his uniform was half-an-inch too large.

From there it was a scramble for the Clan, as the women's swimmers were forced to swim in training uniforms to avoid the same fate as VanderHelm, while head coach Liam Donnelly had the program's supplier rush a new set of competition suits with correct logos.

Despit the unfortunate start, Simon Fraser's swimmers turned in some good performances on Day One, culminating in the 10th-place finish in the relay.

The Clan had four athletes compete in individual events on Wednesday, including VanderHelm and seniors Nicole Cossey, Carmen Nam and Alexandria Schofield.

Cossey, a two-time All-American in 2014, turned in a 23rd place performance in the 50-yard freestyle, while Nam finished 30th in the 1,000-yard freestyle competition. Schofield was disqualified from her 200-IM prelim.

 Cossey and Schofield will also compete in additional individual races in the following days, which for Cossey includes the 100-yard freestyle where she earned a runner-up finish at the 2014 championships.

This season she enters the competition ranked eighth overall, and will be looking for a repeat All-American performance in her final meet with the Clan.

The Championships continue Thursday morning, and will see the Clan athletes appear in seven events, including the women's 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relay teams, Nam in the 400-yard IM, sophomore Lauren Swistak and Schofield in the 100-yard butterfly, freshman Maran Kokoska, Cossey and Swistak in the 200-yard freestyle, Vanderhelm in the 200-yard freestyle, and Elizabeth Durward's one-metre diving final. Fans can follow the Clan's athletes live on several pages, including live video at http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule, live swimming results at http://www.iunat.iupui.edu/content/Other-Information/LiveResults/index.htm and the live diving results at http://www.divemeets.com.