Women's relay team to final at World Uni Games

New Zealand swimmers enjoyed their most productive session with the women’s freestyle relay through to the final and five swimmers to semifinals on the fourth day of heats at the World University Games in Korea.

The women’s quartet of Georgia Marris, Kate Godfrey, Laura Quilter and Samantha Lee clocked 8:15.86 in their heat to be seventh fastest to earn a place in tonight’s final.

It was a second inside their combined time set at the national championships in April.

Lee, the Commonwealth Games representative from the Capital club in Wellington, will have a doubly busy night after also qualifying for the semifinals in the 100m butterfly. The Massey University student clocked 1:00.22, a fraction outside her best, to be 12^th fastest while teammate Helena Gasson (Fairfield club, Waikato University) swam a personal best 1:00.25 to be 13^th fastest.

Howick Pakuranga’s Daniel Hunter (Auckland University) and US-based Waikato swimmer Sam Perry (Stanford University) are both through to the semifinals in the 100m freestyle. Hunter went 50.24 to be eighth fastest with Perry 50.45 as the 11^th fastest with both only a tick outside their previous best times.

North Canterbury’s Natasha Lloyd, on scholarship at Auburn University in Alabama, clocked 2:33.67 to be 15^th fastest into the semifinals of the 200m breaststroke.

In other heats today Georgia Marris (4:20.64) set a significant new personal best to be 12^th fastest in the 400m freestyle with Monique King (4:22.69) and 16^th fastest, both missing out on the top eight directly to the final.


CAPTION: Georgia Marris in action. Credit BW Media.