INDIANAPOLIS – Western Colorado University women's swimming & diving's Randi Yarnell won her first ever national championship on the second day of competition at the NCAA Division ll Women's Swimming and Diving National Championships on Thursday night. Yarnell competed in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard freestyle, earning All-American in both events and coming away with the victory in the 200-yard freestyle.
 
Yarnell is the first female swimmer in Western history to win a national title and the second swimmer in school history to do so. The only other Mountaineer to achieve this accomplishment is Nelson Shibasaki, who won the men's 200-yard backstroke in 1968.
 
Yarnell competed in back-to-back events Thursday morning, securing All-American status after qualifying as the fifth seed for the finals in both events. In the 100-yard butterfly, she swam 54.29 in the prelims to qualify for the finals. Yarnell swam a then school record time of 1:48.88 in the 200-yard freestyle prelims to qualify for finals.
 
In the finals of the 100-yard butterfly, Yarnell placed fifth swimming a time of 54.19, a tenth of a second faster than her qualifying time.  
 
Yarnell went through the halfway point in fifth place after splitting 25.37, then managed to hold on through the second half to finish fifth overall with a 28.82 second half split.
 
About 25 minutes following the 100-yard butterfly final, Yarnell raced the 200-yard freestyle final. The senior won the event in a school record time of 1:47.28.
 
From the gun, Yarnell took the lead clocking her first split in 24.88 seconds, a whole quarter of a second ahead of second place. On her next split she clocked a 26.92, placing her over half a second ahead of the rest of the field. She began to slow down the second half of the race coming in with a 27.85 split, the third fastest of the field. On the final lap of the race Yarnell could see the slight lead she had and was able to push on and negative split with a 27.63.
 
After finishing, Yarnell was speechless for her interview, happy and overwhelmed with emotions.
 
Yarnell will return to the pool for her last collegiate race of her career on Saturday in the 100-yard freestyle. Last season, the senior finished runner-up in the event at the national championships, earning All-American honors.  
 
Teammate Savannah Tice will begin her first Division ll National Championship meet tomorrow in the 100-yard backstroke. Tice will also swim the 200-yard backstroke on Saturday.
 
Follow along with the 2019 NCAA Division ll Women's Swimming and Diving National Championships at GoMountaineers.com.