COLUMBUS, Ga. - In a year that saw more than a dozen program records fall, Josie Briner gave the Midway women's swim team one more highlight to go out on.

Briner became the first Eagle to ever reach the finals of the NAIA Swimming and Diving National Championships, closing out the four-day tournament with a 13th-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly on Saturday.

A freshman who qualified for three separate national events, Briner swam a 2:11.99 in the 200 fly finals. In the process, she also broke her own program record of 2:13.31, which she swam at the Mid-South Championships last month.

She reached the finals by virtue of a 2:13.36 swim in the preliminary round early in the day. 

Briner also took part in Thursday's 200 individual medley and Friday's 100 butterfly. In the preliminary rounds, she placed 33rd in 2:15.62 in the 200 medley and 25th in 59.45 seconds in the 100 fly.

She was one of three Eagles to qualify, for nationals. Like Briner, Sammy Friel also qualified in three events and even edged her teammate in the 100 fly, placing 22nd in 59.27.

In the prelims, Friel took 22nd in the 100 breastroke (1:08.10) on Friday as well, before concluding her junior season with a 40th-place swim in the 100 freestyle (55.09) Saturday. Her time in the 100 free was a personal best.

Competing in the prelims of two backstroke events, freshman Lauren Kinzeler finished 31st in both, swimming a 1:01.39 in the 100 Friday and a 2:13.95 in the 200 Saturday.

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