There are some well deserved smiles shining this week as the Rowan women’s swimming team returned home from their first major event of the season at the WPI Gompei Invitational in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Not one, not two, but three members of the team either qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships or set a new program record.
Senior Miranda Coughlan and juniors Carlee Timmins and Bailey Howarth all etched their names in the record books.
Coughlan updated Rowan’s school record in the 200 free with a time of 1:54.29, beating Christie Raleigh’s time of 1:55.21 back in 2012.
Timmins made B-cut for the NCAA’s, posting a time of 17:14.08 in the 1650 freestyle that also broke the meet record by more than seven seconds.
Howarth went ahead and broke Rowan’s program record in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:22.31.
Head coach Brad Bowser was certainly pleased with the effort he saw from his upperclassmen.
“I liked what I saw,” Bowser said. “I thought it was a great meet [with] Carlee stepping up that first day with the mile time and a B-cut and really putting herself in the top-10 in the country. Miranda breaking the record in the 200 free which has been around since former national champion Christy Riley.”
The team finished second overall out of the 15 schools that attended with a total score of 4370.50. It’s the first time in three years that the Profs haven’t finished first in the invitational.
Howarth, who was named New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Rookie of the Year in 2016 and was a member of the conference’s first team last year, will be seeing her first action at NCAA’s this year.
Bowser credits her offseason work ethic as a major factor for her results in the water.
“She really put the effort out over the summer time,” Bowser said. “For her rewards over this past weekend, she is really focused on her goal and making NCAA’s.”
Swimmers who didn’t make cuts for NCAA’s still have plenty of time to, as there is still four meets left in the season. The team won’t see competition until later in January, though, when they head to New Providence, New Jersey for the Stevens Invitational with Johns Hopkins University and Swarthmore College.
Luckily, this time will allow the team to sharpen up their skills and prepare.
“Yeah we just need to clean some things up,” Bowser said. “Better walls, better under-waters, better body positioning and a little more rest.”
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