Indianapolis – The 2014 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships opened with the preliminaries of the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, 200-medley relay, and the men’s three-meter diving competition on Wednesday morning. The 2014 NCAA Championships are being held at the IUPUI Natatorium located on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Just as Head Coach Carlson predicted, the meet was fast and swimmers saw massive jumps across every race. “It was tough to get back into competition mode after having five weeks off from racing,” Carlson said about his team’s showing this morning. “But with the first swims of the meet under our belt, I expect us to get better as the meet goes on.”
Alissa Tinklenberg (Sr., Willmar, Minn.) posted the team’s top performance of the day in the 50 free. Tinklenberg, who was seeded second in the race with a time of 23.18, finished ninth in the morning preliminaries with a time of 23.52. The senior missed out on a chance to earn All-America honors in her first individual race of the meet by just one-hundredth of a second, as Kenyon’s Jourdan Cline took the eighth spot with a time of 23.51.
Katie Olson (Jr., North Oaks, Minn.) also competed in the 50 free, finishing in a tie for 20th with a time of 23.75. Olson was seeded 10th in the race with a qualifying time of 23.51.
Dante Colucci (So., Summit, N.J.), Gustavus’s lone male competitor at the NCAA Championships, rounded out the team’s individual swimmers with a 51st place finish in 22.02. Colucci improved on his qualifying time, which was a 22.38.
The 200-medley relay team comprised of Tinklenberg, Laura Drake (Sr., Mendota Heights, Minn.), Danielle Klunk (Jr., Appleton, Wis.), and Olson rounded out the preliminaries in the final heat of the race. The group turned in a time of 1:45.12 to finish 11th – also missing a a spot in the top eight and a chance at All-America distinction. The team came into the meet ranked fourth with a season-best of 1:43.57 recorded at the MIAC Championships.
The finals of the men’s and women’s 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, and 200-medley relay will begin tonight at 6:00 p.m. (EST). For complete results and to view tonight’s heat sheets, please follow the links below.