Photo credit: Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior Kerry Kelly of the Union College women's swimming and diving team earned All-America first-team recognition for the first time in her career with a school-record sixth-place finish in the championship final of the 400 individual medley on day two of the NCAA Div. III Swimming and Diving Championships, held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center on Thursday.
 
Entering the event as the ninth seed, Kelly touched the wall in a time of 4:24.53, surpassing her own school record of 4:24.80 achieved last year as a sophomore. As a result of her sixth-place finish, Kelly becomes the second All-America first-team honoree for the Union women since 2007-08, joining Christina Belforti '17 (fourth in the 200 backstroke) in 2017.
 
The junior reached the final with a time of 4:27.02 in the preliminaries, which was good enough for third in her heat and eighth overall out of 33 competitors. Seeded ninth, her finish bumped her up the all-important one spot; the top-eight qualified for the final, while finishers 9-16 qualify for the consolation final, in which Kelly participated as a sophomore.
 
Kelly started strong in the prelims, swimming a 58.90 to hold a body-length lead after the butterfly and maintaining that advantage after finishing the backstroke in 1:06.46. The junior fell to third place after the breaststroke, but continued to swim strongly in the freestyle to take third in her very competitive heat.
 
Kelly will return to the pool tomorrow in arguably her best event, as she takes part in the 200 butterfly, in which she is seeded sixth nationally. The event will kick off tomorrow's preliminary session, which starts at 10 a.m, and can be viewed at https://www.ncaa.com/event/swimming-women/d3/2019/03/22/diii-swimming---diving--day-three---morning-session.