by Doug Page
ASHLAND, VA. – Freshman Nicola Macdonald collected one victory along with a second-place finish for the Barton College women's swim team in the two-day Yellow Jacket Invite, which was hosted by Randolph-Macon College.
The Lady Bulldogs registered a seventh-place finish in the team standings and tallied top-five finishes in the 200-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard medley relay, 800-yard freestyle relay, and 400-yard freestyle relay.
Macdonald, a native of Durbin, South Africa, produced a victory in the 200-yard freestyle, taking first place in a time of 1:58.00. She added a runner-up showing in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.02 seconds, which was just 10 seconds behind the pace of the Catawba College's Claire Featherstone. Macdonald shaved almost 10 seconds off her seed time and set a Barton school record in the 500-yard freestyle, bringing home a sixth-place finish for BC in a time of 5:19.07.
Kleanza Cathers, a freshman from Kitimat, Canada, set a personal best in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:19.56 to record an eighth-place finish. She also notched a personal best in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:59.36, which placed fourth behind Randolph-Macon's Kata Kyllianinen. Cathers recorded another top-five finish for the Lady Bulldogs in the 1650-yard freestyle, crossing the line in fourth with a time of 18:15.18.
Freshman Kazia Patzer registered a sixth-place finish for BC in the 100-yard butterfly (1:00.84), which was faster than her seed time entering the event. She also competed in the 200-yard individual medley for the first time, notching a 10th-place finish (2:19.16).
Barton freshman Adie Powell competed in the 400-yard individual medley for the first time, bringing home a 12th-place finish for the Lady Bulldogs (5:04.18). She also placed 13th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:22.91.
Freshman Callie Burnette recorded a 10th-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:35.97, which was more than five seconds faster than her seed time in the event. Fellow freshman Alayna Moore was the top BC swimmer in the 50-yard freestyle, tallying an 11th-place finish with a time of 25.39 seconds. Freshman Annika Jasek-Rysdahl beat her seed time (5:13.17) in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 5:08.40, which was good for 15th-place.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team of Cathers, Macdonald, Moore, and freshman Kristen Price recorded a fourth-place finish with a time of 1:40.50. Burnette, Cathers, Macdonald, and Patzer tallied a fourth-place finish with a time of 4:08.23 in the 400-yard medley relay.
The 400-yard freestyle relay race saw the team of Cathers, Macdonald, Moore, and Price earn a top-five finish with a time of 3:42.75, more than three seconds faster than their seed time. Burnette, Jasek-Rysdahl, Moore, and Patzer swam to a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:54.34. Cathers, Macdonald, Moore, and Patzer also recorded a fifth-place finish for the Lady Bulldogs in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 8:13.64.
Barton will return to competition after a month-long break as it travels to Catawba College for a meet with the Indians in Salisbury, N.C. at 4 p.m.
