Indianapolis, IN.-- Junior Alex Anderson finished second in the 200 IM on day one of the NCAA Championships at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI. Anderson finished in a time of 1:47.75. 

Anderson started the day with a bang, setting not only a school, but also a conference record in the event with his prelim time of 1:49.92. Alex was seeded seventh for the finals, with each of the top eight finalists only separated by less than a second. 

In the final heat, Anderson showed his true colors, shaving off a full two seconds from his prelim time, to take silver in the event. 

Coach Brethauer said of her junior swimmer, "Alex is really coming into his own as a swimmer and while you always like to win, you can't be disappointed with dropping over seven seconds off your seed time to finish second at the NCAA Championships." Coach Brethauer went on the say, "Needless to say, I'm proud of all my swimmers. After the strong start, I'm excited and proud to see what these kids can do over the next three days."

Alex, who is the lone Eagle male to compete, will 400 IM tomorrow and the 100 fly on Friday. Anderson will look to repeat as NCAA Champion in the 400 IM tomorrow. Anderson won the event last year with a time of 3:50.55, which is the current national record.

Anderson joins Shannon Hutcherson (women's swimming, 1993), Myra Simpson (women's track, 1996), and Paul Bristow and Dan Uyar (men's tennis doubles) as an individual national champion at UMW.

Fans can go to http://www.ncaa.com/sports/swimming-men/d3 for more information on NCAA Division III Swimming.

To get up to the minute information on championship weekend, go to http://www.indianasportscorp.org/events/events-calendar/ncaa-swimming-diving. Live stats for the event can be found here http://www.ncaa.com/diii-swimming-and-diving-live-scoring