Representing the UConn swimming and diving team, graduate student Robyn Edwards took on the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America Invitationals this past weekend.
The Truro, Great Britain native competed in three total events across the three-day invitational: the 50-yard, 100-yard, and 200-yard backstroke. With each increasing distance, Edwards was able to place better and better, taking a bronze medal in the 200-yard backstroke.
Edwards’ first event of the weekend was the 50-yard backstroke. Her preliminary time was 26.56 seconds, good for 58th overall out of 93 event participants. With just the top 10 making the “A” final and Nos. 11-20 making the “B” final, Edwards did not qualify for a second run with this event.
Next up for the grad student was the 100-yard freestyle. Edwards swam even better than before, tying for 30th place with a time of 55.76 seconds. She got off to a hot start, finishing the first length of the pool in 27.26 seconds before completing the second length in 28.50 seconds. While she again missed the cut, Edwards improved amongst a field of 89 swimmers.
Edwards capped off the weekend with her best performance yet, this time in the 200-yard backstroke. In preliminaries, she finished in third place overall with a time of 1:57:28, with her first length as her fastest with 27.81 seconds. Her slowest 50 meters was the penultimate one, completing the length in 30.16 seconds.
In the “A” finals, Edwards had to put things in a whole new gear in order to come out with a medal. She finished the 200 in 1:56:87, more than half a second better than her preliminary time. She didn’t finish a single length over 30 seconds in this run, a testament to her competitive spirit through and through.
For her efforts, Edwards single-handedly gave UConn 18 points on the weekend, placing her and the university at No. 47 overall in a field of 57 schools.
Some of the top schools of the weekend for the women’s side included Tennessee, Akron and Ohio State. Out of 41 men’s programs in attendance, it was Queens University of Charlotte who came out on top, followed by Tennessee and Ohio State.
While the season is likely over for the Huskies, there is a chance the team will be sending a few swimmers to the NCAA Championships in Knoxville, TN this upcoming Wednesday to Saturday.
