The Gustavus women’s swimming and diving team had four swimmers earn All-America honors at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. The championships took place March 10-12 at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Individual swimmers and relay teams earn All-America honors by placing in the top eight of their event. The swimmers included Beth DeLaRosby (Senior, Two Harbors, Minn.), Katie Garvey (Senior, Fargo, N.D.), Laurie Decknatel (Senior, Apple Valley, Minn.) and Laura Watkins (Sophomore, Fargo, N.D.).
Beth DeLaRosby tied for sixth place in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.00 to earn All-America honors at the championships. DeLaRosby is the only Gustavus swimmer to earn individual All-America honors at this year’s championships. This is the second consecutive season she has earned All-America honors in the 50 freestyle. In 2004, DeLaRosby placed third in the 50 freestyle to earn All-America honors.
The 200 freestyle relay team earned All-America honors with a second place finish. The team of DeLaRosby, Katie Garvey, Laurie Decknatel and Laura Watkins recorded a time of 1:35.63, which was just four-hundreths of a second behind first place Carleton College. The second place finish is the best ever finish posted by a Gustavus relay team at the NCAA Championships.
Gustavus had two individuals and three relay teams earn honorable mention All-America honors by finishing in the top sixteen of their event. Katie Garvey and Eva Miller (Senior, Sartell, Minn.) earned honorable mention All-America honors for Gustavus. Garvey placed 14th in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.64, while Miller placed 13th in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:06.58.
The Gusties earned honorable mention honors in the 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay. The team of Sara Pfau (First-year, Bismarck, N.D.), Miller, Garvey and DeLaRosby placed ninth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:47.94. The same team placed 14th in the 400 medley relay with a time of 4:00.22. Gustavus placed 16th in the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 7:56.55. The team consisted of Garvey, DeLaRosby, Watkins and Pfau.
Gustavus compiled 79.5 points to place 16th out of 53 teams at the national meet. Coach Jon Carlson’s squad was just three points away from breaking the school record of most points scored at the NCAA Championships. The Gusties placed third at the MIAC Swimming and Diving Championships in February. The third place finish is the 12th consecutive top five finish at the conference meet for the Gusties.