Canes Wrap Up Day 1 at NCAA Championships

ATLANTA — The University of Miami women’s swimming and diving team wrapped up Day 1 at the NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships Thursday.

Junior swimmer Angela Algee and a trio of divers – freshman Carolyn Chaney, senior Kara McCormack and sophomore Wally Layland – all represented the Hurricanes at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.

Chaney led the divers in the 1-meter event with a 29th place score of 269.05. McCormack had 258.75 points, while Layland finished with 252.30 points.

Algee posted a time of 22.81 in the 50 freestyle, marking the fastest performance of his career. With the time, Algee moved from No. 61 heading into the meet to 47th, and was one of only 12 swimmers to improve on her entry time in the morning’s preliminaries.

“This is the best of the best, and it is certainly a privilege to be a part of that,” head swimming coach Andy Kershaw said. “Obviously we’re here to compete and we want to put points on the scoreboard. We came up a bit short of that goal today, but still have some positives to build on.”

Kershaw said Algee has been working on smaller details since the ACC Championships, and was able to implement them in her race to find success.

“At this meet, if you can go faster that you’ve ever gone, you are going to be passing a fair amount of people,” he said.

He expects a similar performance Friday in the 100-yard butterfly, Algee’s best event. She is seeded No. 28 entering the day, with the top-16 performers all scoring points.

“We have some new things to implement in this race as well, and I’m looking forward to seeing her improve,” Kershaw said. “If she does, she has a good shot at getting a finals spot.

One thing I can tell you is that Angela is a fierce competitor. When she gets in the race, I know she’ll do anything she can to get to the wall first.”