GREENSBORO, NC - Swarthmore College women's swimming put together a historic opening night at the NCAA Championships on Wednesday. The program earned their first individual All-American since 2012 and their first All-American relay team in 26 years.

Kate Hallmark highlighted the day with an incredible showing in the 500 freestyle. The first-year started her day with a time of 4:59.61 in the morning prelims, breaking her own Swarthmore program record that she set at the Centennial Conference Championships. Hallmark tied for 16th place and with the top-16 swimmers returning for finals, a swim off was required to determine the final spot for the evening session. 

In the swim off race against Anna Pfeufer from Denison, Hallmark once again broke five minutes, won the swim off with a time of 4:59.81 and earned herself a spot in the consolation finals. Hallmark won the swim off by nearly two seconds. 
 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Swarthmore Athletics (@swatathletics)

Later that night, Hallmark returned to the pool to race her third 500 freestyle of the day. Hallmark remarkably finished in 16th place with a time of 5:00.87 as she earned All-America honorable mention honors. Her finals time also bested her previous program record for the third time in the same day. Hallmark also entered the championships as the 31st seed as she improved on her seeding by 15 spots in an incredible night filled with adversity.  

Swarthmore also made history in the 200 medley relay to close out a successful opening night. The team of Erin Szuromi, Gaby Ma, Ashley Wong and Elle Anthony earned a spot in the finals with a 14th place effort in the morning prelims at 1:44.25. 

The 200 medley relay followed up their morning performance with a time of 1:44.54 in the finals. Swarthmore grabbed 15th place in the event and became the first relay team in program history to earn points since 1997. 

Anthony and Quinn Weygandt both made their national championship debut. In addition to earning All-American status in the 200 medley relay, Anthony also put together a strong swim in the 50 freestyle. The first-year standout tied for 19th overall with a 23.53 mark. Weygandt competed on the day with a time of 2:07.95 in the 200 IM. She took 42nd in the event in her collegiate national championship debut.