Vavra, Shickora medal at NCAA's

Allysa Vavra and Kristen Shickora both medaled at the NCAA swimming championships on Friday.

Vavra, a senior at Indiana University, earned a fifth place in the 400 Individual Medley while Shickora, a senior at the University of Georgia, placed eighth in the 100 backstroke.

For Vavra, it was her second medal of the championships. On Thursday, she finished eighth in the 200 IM.

The Panther Valley graduate was seeded fourth in the 400 IM and turned in the second-fastest time (4:02.81) in the preliminaries. In the finals Vavra improved on that time, touching the wall in 4:01.73, but it was only good for fifth.

In Thursday's 200 IM, Vavra posted a time of 1:55.58 in the preliminary to reach the A finals. In that final, her eight-place time was 1:56.60.

Shickora, meanwhile, gained her eighth place by posting a time of 52.51 in the 100 back. She entered the tourney seeded sixth (52.27) and was seventh after prelims with a mark of 52.26.

The Marian grad also competed in relay events both Thursday and Friday. Both Bulldogs teams finished 10th in those races (200 and 400 medley relays).

Both Vavra and Shickora will be in action today. Vavra will be competing in the 200 breastsroke while Shickora will swim in the 200 backstroke.