NCAA Women’s Division III Championship Blog, Day 2: Emory’s Katie Mroz

OXFORD, Ohio, March 13. IN addition to Shane Pelton's athlete blog on the Division II Championships, another swimmer will be keeping tabs on the Women's Division III Championships through an athlete blog for Swimming World. Katie Mroz from Emory University will be checking in with regular content from the meet

Mroz is a freshman swimmer at Emory University. Mroz, who hails from Libertyville, Ill., enters her first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship meet after placing first as a member of the Emory 800 freestyle relay at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships. In addition, Mroz will compete in the 500 freestyle, the 200 freestyle and the 200 breaststroke at this year's NCAA Championships.

Day one prelims are complete! I am in absolute awe of the racing that has already occurred at this meet and cannot wait for tonight. The races for the championship are going to be out of control.

Before the 200 freestyle relay, each team showed its spirit with a bit of cheering. There was lots of nervous energy on deck as the meet began, but it seems that people are finding their groove and are ready to strut their stuff.

There are some heated matchups this evening that people must be aware of and ready for. The top four in the 500 freestyle, Meirs, Arad, Stern, and Horvat, are within 7 tenths of one another. I know that everyone at the pool will be on the edge of their seats because it will all come down to the finish for this year's champion. This morning, Brittany Sasser of Amherst broke the 200 IM record which was then broken again by defending champion Kaitlyn Orstein of Washington & Jefferson. The final heat of the 50 free will also be extremely intense as all eight swimmers are under 24 seconds with Kenyon's Elizabeth Carlton and Emory's Ruth Westby at the top.

Overall, it seems that this year's meet is faster than it has been in the past, pushing all sorts of boundaries. But if you thought today was fast, hold on to your heat sheets and buckle up because I think we are all in for a night to remember.

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