COLUMBUS, Ga. (Feb. 28, 2019) – Sophomore Margaret Halloran won the B final in the 500 freestyle as Milligan College’s swimming team wrapped up day two of the NAIA Swimming & Diving National Championships Thursday at the Columbus Aquatic Center.

Halloran, an All-American in the event in 2018, missed All-American by one spot, taking ninth in the morning’s preliminaries before thrashing the rest of the field in the evening’s B Final. Halloran’s 5:09.98 in the final beat 10th place by a second and a half.

Halloran was Milligan’s only individual to compete in the finals session, although Milligan qualified all four of Thursday’s relays. The highest finish came from the women’s 200 free relay, consisting of Sara Farmer, Anna Hathcock, Jordan Clark and Halloran, which took 11th in 1:40.25. The group swam the third fastest time in the B final, dropping a second off its seed time in the prelim before dropping another half second and one spot in the final.

The highest men’s relay came from Matthew McFalls, Javin Williams, Isaac Etherton and Sterling Burnett in the 200 free relay. The Buffs finished 15th in both the prelims (1:27.88) and finals (1:27.34) while dropping two seconds off their seed time.

In the morning session, Farmer missed the finals by one spot in the 50 free, finishing 17th in 24.82. Hathcock followed in the event with a 39th-place finish in 25.50.

Etherton dropped two seconds off his 500 free time with a 4:55.79 to finish 30th in the national field. Grow earned a similar result with a 34th-place finish in the 200 individual medley. Her time was 2:19.69.

Up next, day three of the national championships is set for Friday beginning at 9 a.m. Milligan’s lineup will include Grow in the 400 IM; Clark, Etherton and Brock Jerpseth in the 100 butterfly; Farmer, Halloran, Burnett and Logan Garzonio in the 100 backstroke; and the men’s and women’s 200 medley relays. Those who qualify for finals will return at 5 p.m.