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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Cal State East Bay swim team made its first finals appearance on the second day of the 2013 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday. The Pioneers, competing in their first NCAA Division II Championship meet since 1992, made the A Final of the 200 free relay, while both Jenel Lopez and Caitlin DeNise competed in the B Final in individual events.

The East Bay 200 free relay team of DeNise, Lopez, Erica Crain and Brittany Rojo kicked off the morning prelims with a sixth-place showing in 1:34.34, earning a spot in the top eight to reach the championship final in the evening session. The group, which qualified for the NCAA meet with it school-record 1:34.28 in the 200 free relay at PCSC Championships last month, came in ahead of conference foe Simon Fraser in the prelims.

The program record holder in the 100 fly, DeNise followed the relay performance with a 13th-place showing in the prelims to qualify for the B final. Lopez also reached the B final with her morning swim in the 200 freestyle, finishing 12th in the prelims. Competing in the 100 fly prelims with DeNise, Rojo posted a time of 57.09, just missing the cut for finals and serving as an alternate in the event of any scratches.

In a tight race in the 200 free finals, DeNise, Crain, Rojo and Lopez finished eighth in a time of 1:34.74, just five-tenths behind seventh-place Indianapolis and less than two seconds out of the top three. Ashland claimed the NCAA title, while Wayne State out-touched Grand Canyon to finish as the runner up.

DeNise was next, swimming in a very close 100 fly B final, and placing fourth. Less than two seconds separated first from eighth in the B final, with the top four spots decided by just over half a second. DeNise took fourth, touching the wall in 56.38, to finish 12th overall and score five points for the Pioneers.

The A Final of the 100 fly was filled with PCSC competitors, with Alaska Fairbanks' Margot Adams finishing second behind Grand Canyon's Mychala Lynch, while UCSD placed three in the top five in the championship final.

In East Bay's last event of the evening session, Lopez finished fifth in the 200 freestyle B final. The senior posted a time of 1:51.62, finishing just three-hundredths of a second off fourth-place Kristine Kassl from Tampa. Kassl's teammate Heather Glenday claimed first in the B final, while UC San Diego's Anjali Shakya came within eight-tenths of the NCAA Division II record to take home the national title.

On the first day of competition, the Pioneers competed in the prelims of both the 200 medley relay and the 50 freestyle. Though the relay team was disqualified, Lopez posted a 23.75 in the 50 free to rank 23rd and miss the finals by just a tenth of a second. DeNise also raced in the 50 free prelims, going 24.03, while Rojo and Crain posted times of 24.27 and 24.69, respectively, in the prelims.

Cal State East Bay finished the day in 19th place in the team competition with 31 points and returns for tomorrow morning's 800 free relay prelims at 8 a.m. PT on Friday. Live video of every session is available here, while live results will be posted here.