TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Franklin women's swimming and diving team is heading into the final day of the 2023 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Championships in front after a strong team showing on Friday (Feb. 10) night.
 
The Grizzlies won five more gold medals to run their point total to 596, more than 100 points ahead of second place Transylvania going into championship Saturday.
 
Just as they did on night one, Franklin's diving group dominated on the board, this time with six of the seven finalist places on the one-meter board. Senior Faith Jackson claimed gold in the event with 400.55 points, followed by Carley Bond (396.35) in second place and Kamryn Elder (335.45) in third place. Kaleigh Schuler took fourth, Gabby Cunningham finished sixth and Emma Gentry placed seventh, with all three earning critical points as a result.
 
The first individual gold medal of the night came in the 100 butterfly, where Kennedy Minter took the top spot with her time of 1:00.33. Freshman Jyllian Antle recorded a podium finish, grabbing third place and the bronze medal with a time of 1:03.11.
 
Junior Samantha Phillips dominated in her signature event, rolling to victory in the 200 free in 1:53.96. Senior Caileigh McCafferty claimed the top spot in the 100 breaststroke in 58.29, narrowly edging out the event's runner-up. Other individual medal winners from Friday included Regan Hendricks taking silver in the 400 IM in 4:46.79 and Becky Pfeifer nabbing bronze in the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.46.
 
In the day's only relay, Franklin claimed first place in both flights of the 200 medley relay. McCafferty, Pfeifer, Phillips and Minter teamed up to win the gold medal with a time of 1:50.03 while Antle, Hendricks, Erin Perkins and Grace Williams finished atop the consolation heat and earned big points with their time of 1:56.07.
 
The Grizzlies will gun for their sixth straight HCAC Championship on Saturday (Feb. 11) with prelims on the final day getting started at 10:00 a.m.