Whitman Swimming: Nationals Recap

The 2013 NCAA DIII Nationals came to a close this evening but not before our Whitman swimmers had one more swim each. Karl started the morning off with a great effort in his 100 freestyle. His time of 45.72 was was his second fastest of the year, just missing his Conference and school record swim from the NWC Championships of 45.46. As was the trend this year, it took a very fast 45.08 to make the top 16 and a 44.81 to make the top 8. Claire swam the 200 breaststroke this morning with a very good time of 2:22.10. She swam a very strong race but didn't quite match her NWC Championship effort.

Galen had yesterday off to rest and prepare for this afternoon's 1650 freestyle. Galen's race came at the end of this final morning session. The men and women with the top 8 entry times swam the race at the beginning of the evening session. Two things became clear as Galen got underway in his race: he wasn't going to hold anything back, and he was going to have a race on his hands. Galen and Stevens Institute's Wesley Elford were within three seconds of one another for the duration of the race. Galen was out in 4:38.77 at the 500 mark, and a new school record 9:21.73 at the 1000. Galen led the race until the final 150 yards when Elford took control, eventually winning the heat and placing 5th overall. Even though Galen finished second in his heat, his final time of 15:34.00 was a lifetime best, school record and Northwest Conference record, and fast enough for 7th place overall and his second All-American Award of the meet.

In the end, Whitman finished 17th in the Men's team score with 56 total points. The University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, was 16th with 63. On the Women's side, Claire Collins was responsible for the first points ever scored by a Whitman woman. Her 5 points placed Whitman 47th in the team division, tied with the State University of New York, New Palz.

Here are the Quick Stats from the meet:

4 NCAA All-American awards, 2 for Karl and 2 for Galen, and one NCAA All-American Honable mention for Claire, the first All-American award for a Whitman women's swimmer
Whitman's highest finish at an NCAA Swimming National Championship for our Men's team at 17th overall
Whitman's first ever points scored by a woman swimmer from Claire's 12th place finish in the 100 breaststroke
4 more school records were broken, bringing the season total to 24
Galen had the highest individual event finish in school history with his 2nd place effort of 4:27.47 in the 500 free
Whitman set three new NWC records: Galen 500 free: 4:27.47; Karl 200 butterfly: 1:47.50; Galen 1650 free: 15:34.00

In the end, we had a phenomenal meet! All of us are thrilled with the way things turned out. We just wish that everyone could have been here with us for this awesome experience! I feel extremely inspired by the experience and want nothing more than to give the rest of our Whitman swimmers the opportunity to compete at the National level. Look out 2014 National Championships!

Here are some photos form the day: