The Gustavus women’s swimming and diving team got an All-American performance from its standout sophomore Alissa Tinklenberg (Willmar, Minn.) to stay in the hunt of a top-10 finish at the 2012 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships being held in the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind.
Tinklenberg turned in her third overall and first individual event All-American performance with a seventh place finish in the 100 backstroke. Going into the NCAA Championships, Tinklenberg was pegged to finish outside the top-eight according to her pre-meet seeing time of 56.48. So much for the seeds playing out, as the Willmar, Minn. native touched the wall in 56.40 to not only garner All-America distinction, but break her own school record by .08 seconds. In the morning preliminaries, “Tink” dropped her seed time by .17 seconds to crack the top-eight and gain a berth in the Friday night championship final.
“Alissa Tinklenberg had another amazing day, re-breaking her own school record and becoming an All-American in the process,” said Head Coach Jon Carlson. “The women are poised to make a run in staying inside the top-10 going into the final day.”
Also competing on day three was Jennifer Strom (Rochester, Minn.) in the 100 breaststroke and the 800-free relay team of Tinklenberg, McKenna Jones (Faribault, Minn.), Sarah Hund (Willmar, Minn.), and Katie Olson (North Oaks, Minn.). Strom went 1:06.17 to take 22nd in the 100 breaststroke, while the 800-free relay recorded a time of 7:48.58 to finish 19th.
Heading into the final day of competition, the Gusties sit in 10th place in the team standing with 76 points. Day four of the NCAA Championships will begin at 9:00 a.m. with the prelims of the 100 freestyle.