800 freestyle relay AA
April Staniszewski
The 800 freestyle relay is the second All-American relay team in Cal U history.

Swimming

800 freestyle relay named All-American

Day 3 Preliminaries
Day 3 Finals

CANTON, Ohio (March 12) – The California University of Pennsylvania swimming team's 800 freestyle relay earned All-America honors on Friday after setting a school record at the 2010 NCAA Division II Swimming National Championships, hosted at the C.T. Branin Natatorium.

The 800 freestyle relay of sophomore Melissa Gates (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley), senior Rachel Kurta (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette), freshman Georgia Emert (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield)) and graduate student Ester Bosch (Barcelona, Spain/Universidad Ramon Illull) finished eighth overall with a time of 7 minutes, 38.88 seconds. The time broke the previous school record that was set at last month's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships by 7.46 seconds.

The 800 freestyle relay is only the second All-American relay team in school history. Bosch, Gates and Kurta were all members of last season's 200 freestyle All-American relay.

Competing as an individual, Gates posted a time of 1:07.51 in the 100 breaststroke to finish 35th overall on Friday.

The Vulcans now rank 17th overall in the team standings with 49 points through 30 events. Defending-champion Drury maintained its lead with 473 points, while Wayne State (Mich.) significantly trimmed the deficit and now has 415 points. PSAC-champion West Chester and UC-Sand Diego remain in third and fourth place with 236.5 points and 219 points, respectively.

CAL U RELAY ALL-AMERICANS
2009 - 200 freestyle (M. Gates, T. Hernandez-Verdu, R. Kurta, E. Bosch)
2010 - 800 freestyle (M. Gates, R. Kurta, G. Emert, E. Bosch)
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