GAMBIER, Ohio -- The Kenyon College women's swimming and diving team took to the pool on Friday evening with the goal of improving their times ahead of the upcoming NCAA Championship. The First Chance Invitational meet included five teams and marked the first of two straight days centered around shaving seconds ahead of nationals. Owls swimmers cleared NCAA 'B' cuts in four races, and two Kenyon women improved upon their season-best times.

Kenyon's improvements came in a pair of 200-yard races: the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard backstroke. In the 200 freestyle, Nora Lee Brown paced the field with a time of 1:51.55. The mark cleared the NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:52.17 and improved upon the first-year's season-best time of 1:52.10 set at last week's North Coast Athletic Conference Championship.

Gwen Eisenbeis added the other improved time towards the end of the evening in the 200 backstroke. Despite swimming the event for the first time this season, the junior looked like a regular, stopping the clock in first at 2:02.01. Not only did the time easily clear the 2:03.17 'B' cut standard, but it also set the career-best time for Eisenbeis in the race.

Three other Owls came in under the 'B' cut cutoff, but neither mark was better than their season-best. Senior Jordan Herrera led the way in the 400-yard individual medley, touching first at 4:26.38. The time was better than the 4:29.40 'B' standard, but not better than her team-leading top time of 4:24.65 set early this season. Sophomore Ashlyn Widmer also cleared a 'B' cut in the 400 IM, clocking in at 4:26.93. The time was close to her season-best, but it was 0.02 seconds slower than her top time. Later in the 200-yard butterfly, sophomore Amelia Stevenson cleared the 'B' cutoff of 2:05.01 with a 2:03.75 mark, but the time was 0.07 seconds behind her season-best.

The Owls will have more chances to shave seconds tomorrow, February 22, when Kenyon hosts the Fast Chance Invitational. The racing is set to start at noon in the Steen Aquatic Center.