CLEVELAND - After the third day of competition in the New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference Championships, the Lady Statesmen moved past Henderson State into second and remain 52 points behind first place Truman State. The Statesmen remain in third, sitting 57 points behind first place Missouri S&T.

For the Lady Statesmen, Dawn Thomson kicked off the event with a nationals B-cut time in the 400 yard individual medley, taking fifth in a time of 4:37.38. Amanda Guidry and Alyce Meador also qualified for nationals with NCAA Division II A-cut times in the 100 yard butterfly. Guidry finished second with a time of 56.43 and Meador touched the wall right behind her in 56.56.

Meador later qualified again with an A-cut time by winning the 100 yard backstroke in 57.53, out touching teammate Hannah Willis who grabbed a B-cut time of 58.06. Another Lady Statesmen qualified when Mary Katherine Waddell finished third in the 200 yard freestyle in 1:55.59, a B-cut time.

Noting the pivotal wins, Head Coach Brian Hein was pleased with the Lady Statesmen effort.

"Those 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly wins were a huge part in putting us in striking distance for a big day tomorrow," Hein said.

For the Statesmen, Adam Milecz was second in the 200 yard freestyle with a B-cut time of 1:41.22. A few events later in the 100 yard freestyle, Waldemar Juschin punched his ticket to nationals by finishing fourth in 57.83. Proving just how strong the NSISC is in the Division II swimming ranks, Justin Ingvoldstad finished seventh in the 100 yard backstroke and still is heading to nationals with a B-cut time of 52.31.

In the big win on the guy's side, the grouping of Adam Dajka, Dalton Silva, Cameron Weidele and Adam Milecz topped them all in the 800 yard freestyle relay with a nationals A-cut time of 6:47.55, getting to the wall just over fourth tens of a second faster than Missouri S&T's top team.

Coach Hein was extremely excited about the efforts of that group.

"For us to get a win against four teams that are legitimate All-American teams at Nationals is a huge win for those guys," Hein said.

The Statesmen and Lady Statesmen will hop in the pool for one more all-important day. Prelims are at 10 AM and the finals will kick off at 5 PM. As always, stay locked on GoStatesmen.com for all of the updates from the DSU Aquatics Center.

                Team Rankings - Through Event 30                       
 
                              Women - Team Scores                             
            Place School                                          Points
       ===================================================================
                1 Truman State University             TSU             600.5
                2 Delta State University             DSU-MS          548.5
                3 Henderson State University   HEND-AR         532.5
                4 Ouachita Baptist University      OBU-AR          368 
                5 Drury University                      DRURY            90.5
 
                               Men - Team Scores                              
            Place School                                          Points
       ===================================================================
                1 Missouri S&T                                 S&T             528 
                2 Ouachita Baptist University        OBU-AR          521 
                3 Delta State University                DSU-MS          471 
                4 Henderson State University      HEND-AR         430 
                5 Drury University                          DRURY           289 
                6 Truman State University                TSU             275