INDIANAPOLIS  With a season-best time of 55.97 seconds, sophomore Mara Selznick finished 11th in the 100-yard backstroke during the championship finals session Friday of the NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Championship meet at the famed Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Aquatic Center.

Selznick earned her way into the evening's consolation heat with a preliminaries time of 56.45, which had been the 15th fastest swim in the morning. The top 16 prelim swimmers advanced into Friday night's finals session with the top eight swimming in the championship final, and the next eight competing in the consolation final.

Swimming in an outside lane at night she went for broke and hit the pad at the 50 (yard) split in 26.81 seconds to lead the eight consolation finalists at the halfway mark. Her second-half split of 29.16 was faster than her morning split (29.42) as she cruised to the pads in third place within the heat.

The day's results earn Selznick an honorable mention All-America certificate, and earns Whitman six points on the team leaderboard at the national meet.

Selznick just missed breaking her own school record, 55.94, set in 2017 when, as a first-year, she won the 100 back at the Northwest Conference championship meet.

Heading into Friday Selznick was steadily improving over the initial three days of the four-day championship. In her first swim she equaled a season best time in the 200 individual medley for a 47th-place finish. On Day 2 she shattered her own best time in the 100 butterfly by more than two seconds with a new career best of 57.87 seconds, the second-fastest 100 fly swim in program history, to finish in 35th place.

Friday night's backstroke swim concludes Selznick's events at the national meet, the sophomore's second trip to NCAAs in her two seasons at Whitman.

The national meet is hosted by IUPUI in an aquatic facility that has been the home to a pair of Olympic Swimming Trials (1996, 2000), four Olympic Diving Trials (1984, 1988, 1992, 2008), the 2009 USA Swimming World Championship Trials, and the NCAA 2013 Division I Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Preliminaries Recap
Mara Selznick raced her way into an evening swim Friday at the NCAA 2018 Division III Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Championship meet at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) pool. The Whitman sophomore posted the 15th-fastest time in Friday's preliminary heats of the women's 100-yard backstroke event, earning a spot in the night's national consolation final -- and also earning an honorable mention All-America certificate.

Selznick entered the prelims with the 20th-seeded time, knowing that only the top 16 from the morning return for second swims at night. The fastest eight from the prelims participate in the championship final with the next eight fastest hitting the water for the consolation final immediately beforehand.

The Whitman record holder in the event, Selznick hit the pad Friday in a time of 56.45 seconds, just 15/100s of a second behind her Northwest Conference championship meet-winning time in early February.

As a participant in the consol heat she can move up to as high as ninth place overall and assures Whitman of scoring points for the team leaderboard.

Whitman head coach Jennifer Blomme was pleased with the morning's results. "It's her first time for a second swim at nationals, which was her top priority coming into the meet this year. Of course, that's not totally in a swimmer's control, so we just focused on swimming fast," explained Blomme.

"She has so much confidence at this meet this year, and is swimming with so much poise.  I am thrilled she gets another chance to swim tonight!"

Selznick, in her first collegiate season, was one of six Whitman swimmers at the 2017 NCAA meet but she failed to advance into a consolation or championship final last year.

Earlier in the 2018 meet she posted a 47th-place finish in the 200 individual medley on Wednesday, and a career-best time of 57.87 Thursday for a 35th-place finish in the 100 butterfly -- with a time that ranks second on Whitman's all-time list.

Evening finals on Friday begin at 6 p.m. ET.