COLUMBUS, OHIO â€"â€" Navy's Lauren Barber (Jr., New Wilmington, Pa.) saved her best performance at the NCAA Swimming Championship for the last day as she recorded a time of 2:11.35 to place 36th in the 200 breaststroke Saturday at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio.

Barber was seeded 50th in the 200 breast at the meet with her qualifying time of 2:12.28. She was one of just 12 in the field of 55 swimmers to improve upon her qualifying time Saturday.

Barber had placed 33rd as a freshman in the 200 breast at the 2016 NCAA Championship when she also posted a time of 2:11.35.

"I was happy to be back at the meet," said Barber. "It is always a really fast meet. I think I was able to concentrate more on just racing this year.

"I am happy with today's time. I was hoping to go fast the other days, but I can't complain on the whole."

"We were real pleased with Lauren being able to finish the year on a high note with her fastest 200 breaststroke of the season," said Navy women's swimming head coach John Morrison. "We learned a lot these last few days and we are excited to get back home and begin implementing them for next year. We are looking forward to that process for both Lauren and the team and getting a few more people here in 2019."

Barber began her championship Thursday by placing 33rd in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:57.93. She was seeded 26th in the event and placed 34th in the 200 IM two years ago.

"Lauren had the best preliminary swim of her career," said Morrison of her 200 IM effort, "but it was short of our expectation. Her first 100 was right where she needed to be and she began to get a little aggressive in the breaststroke, causing her to slip a bit."

Friday saw her place second in her heat and 41st overall in the 100 breaststroke with a clocking of 1:01.03. She entered the championship seeded 43rd in the event and had placed 25th in the 100 breast during her freshman year.

"Lauren was a little flat in warmups, partly due to the earlier start to Friday's schedule," said Morrison. "She was able to work her way out of it for a solid swim with a strong second 50 yards.

"Only nine of the 48 swimmers in the 100 breaststroke improved upon their seed time. That shows how incredibly difficult and hard it is to improve at this level. Lauren continues to learn and compete with a tremendous heart and never quit attitude."

Barber's 2018 NCAA Championship Results
Thursday
200 individual medley â€" 33rd â€" 1:57.93

Friday
100 breaststroke â€" 41st â€" 1:01.03

Saturday
200 breaststroke â€" 36th â€" 2:11.35