From University of Chicago Athletics
The University of Chicago swimming and diving teams both finished in 10th place at the conclusion of the NCAA Division III Championships on Saturday. The Maroons came away with a school-record 53 All-American awards over the course of the meet.
On the men's side, Kenyon College won the team title with 480 points and UChicago was 10th with 146 points. On the women's side, Emory University came away with team championships with 595.5 points while UChicago was 10th with 122 points. It was the highest finish ever for both the men's and women's teams at the national meet.
"To say that this was a breakout season and meet for the team would be an understatement," said Head Coach Jason Weber. "Our previous best finish at NCAAs was 28th for the men and 21st for the women, with our high of 15 All-American honors coming last year. I was hoping that we could finally break into the top 20, so placing 10th on both sides and achieving 53 All-American honors this year shows what an amazing meet we had. Breaking it down further, we qualified and scored in all 10 relays (five on each side), where as we've never qualified more than four relays (three male, one female) and scoring in two relays (one male, one female) last year was our best. Four of our 10 scoring relays were in the top-8 and we've never had a relay place higher than 10th. This was the main reason for the teams scoring around four times as many points this year than any other year. Plus, having two male divers scoring on both boards was a big boost as well!"
Freshman Alison Wall led the Maroons with a seventh-place showing in the 200-yard backstroke (2:01.35) to garner All-American status. Freshman teammate Michelle Law was 30th in the prelims (2:06.25).
Wall was also part of the 400-yard freestyle relay squad that nabbed All-America honors. Junior Jennifer Hill, Wall, freshman Abby Erdmann and freshman Maya Scheidl teamed up to get eighth place in 3:27.67.
Freshman Cara LoPiano was an Honorable Mention All-American after finishing 12th in the 1,650-yard freestyle (17:07.84). In the event prelims, sophomore Karen Chu was 30th (17:39.27). Scheidl took 18th in the 100-yard freestyle prelims (51.82).
The men's 400-yard freestyle relay grabbed seventh place and All-American honors with a time of 3:00.36. Senior Eric Hallman, sophomore Thomas Meek, freshman Mantim Lee and sophomore Matthew Veldman raced in the relay in the final men's event of the weekend.
Meek also participated in the 100-yard freestyle and tied for 17th in the prelims (45.23). In the men's 200-yard breaststroke prelims, junior Andrew Angeles was 25th (2:05.25) and sophomore James Taylor was 29th (2:06.79).
"Being able to do well at NCAAs coming off a very successful conference meet just a few weeks earlier is very hard to do," Weber said, "and, while not all of our swimmers swam their best times, we competed well and dropped times in a number of events and relays to break a ton of school records. Also, to have such young teams perform so well at this level is quite impressive, especially when one of our freshmen wins a national title! A performance like this will be hard to duplicate, but with only one graduating senior from our NCAA squad and a talented class coming in this fall, we're in a position to have another good year."
UChicago Top Finishers (Men)
400-yard freestyle relay (FINALS) – 7th, 3:00.36
(Eric Hallman, Thomas Meek, Mantim Lee, Matthew Veldman)
UChicago Top Finishers (Women)
200-yard backstroke (FINALS) – Alison Wall (7th,
2:01.35)
400-yard freestyle relay (FINALS) – 8th, 3:27.67 (Jennifer
Hill, Alison Wall, Abby Erdmann, Maya Scheidl)
1,650-yard freestyle (FINALS) – Cara LoPiano (12th,
17:07.84)