BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Severe weather threats have halted day 1 of competition at the 2021 DII swimming & diving championships.
Weather warnings in the Birmingham area led city officials to close the CrossPlex Wednesday before noon, cutting the morning preliminary session short. The championship is expected to resume Thursday at noon ET.
The competition will resume at noon ET Thursday and last through roughly 11:30 p.m. ET. Wednesday's previously scheduled finals will be completed in the first session Thursday.
The Eagles will have at least three athletes competing in event finals when action resumes. Newly claimed All-American and senior CJ Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) will compete in the 'A' final for the women's 200-yard individual medley. She came in eighth place at 2:02.95 which is now the third fastest time in school history.
Sophomore Raphael Lima (Sao Paulo, Brazil) will compete in the 'B' final of the men's 50-yard freestyle after placing 13th with a time of 19.95. His time places him as the second fastest Eagle in the event for program history while Lima hopes to improve upon his time once action resumes.
Junior Meredith Ginn (Ocala, Fla.) was just a few seconds away from capturing a spot in the women's 200-yard individual medley 'A' final but was 0.02 seconds behind Jensen at 2:02.97. Ginn will still be back in action in the event's 'B' final tomorrow while also placing claim to the fourth fastest event time in C-N history.
Although she did not qualify for any finals for her event, sophomore Manon Compagner (Balkburg, The Netherlands) competed one last time in the women's 50-yard freestyle before the event stoppage. She finished with a time of 23.90, placing her in the top-25 for DII in the event. Compagner will now look to compete again tomorrow in the women's 100-yard butterfly as an individual.
-CN-
