Swimming and Diving

Thormalm Wins 100 Breast Consolation Final at NCAAs

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Thormalm Wins 100 Breast Consolation Final at NCAAsThormalm Wins 100 Breast Consolation Final at NCAAs
©Timothy Nwachukwu/NCAA Photos

AUSTIN – Sophomore Klara Thormalm of the San Diego State swimming and diving team broke the Mountain West record and posted the ninth fastest 100 breast time at the NCAA Championships en route to winning the consolation final at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on Thursday. 

Thormalm, who found her way into the consolation final with a time of 59.24 on Thursday morning, later bettered her mark Thursday night dropping 0.31 seconds for a new Mountain West-record 58.93.
 
From the start, Thormalm never trailed, completing her first 50 meters in a race-best 27.26 seconds. Thormalm finished the second half of the race in 31.67 to capture the consolation final crown.

Thormalm topped Michigan's Jamie Zhen Yeung (59.04) and Texas A&M's Anna Belousova (59.09), who finished second and third in the consolation final, respectively.

With nine points from Thormalm's win, SDSU currently stands 32nd at the NCAA Championships. That marks second among mid-major programs (Eastern Michigan - 17 points) and fifth among California programs (California - 328 points, Stanford - 299.5 points, USC - 103 points, UCLA - 66 points). 

Thormalm entered the NCAA Championships with a 59.52 seed time -- a time that earned her second place at the Mountain West Championships in February. In each of Thormalm's last three races in the 100 breast, the sophomore has bettered her mark each time, dropping 0.59 seconds from her efforts at the MW Championships to her consolation final win on Thursday.

Morganne McKennan also competed in the 100 breast preliminaries, clocking in at 1:00.45 to finish in 41st. Courtney Vincent competed in the 100 fly preliminaries, finishing 34th at 52.57.
On Thursday, Thormalm started her NCAA Championships with a 48th-place finish in the 50 free at 23.08.

The Aztecs finish off the NCAA Championships tomorrow, with Thormalm and McKennan both set to compete in the 200 breast. The preliminaries are set to start at 9:00 a.m. CT with finals starting at 5:00 p.m. CT on ESPNU.