(Portions of this story courtesy of Colorado College and Trinity University)
(Photo by Russell Kramer)
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Trinity University senior Katie Sheldon was the top SCAC finisher today at the 2014 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, placing eighth in the women's 1-meter diving competition. Results | Championship Website | Live Scoring
Sheldon posted a score of 407.90 on the low board at the IUIPU Natatorium to finish eighth and earn All-America honors for the third time in the 1-meter event.
Last year, Sheldon finished in seventh place for the All-America recognition, and was 16th in 2012 to pick up Honorable Mention All-America accolades.
Sophomore Ashley Heline finished in 12th place with a mark of 389.70, and attained Honorable Mention All-America status for the second consecutive year. Heline came in at the No. 14 position in 2013.
Both Sheldon and Heline will compete on the 3-meter board on Saturday. Heline placed eighth on the high board at last year's championship, and Sheldon just missed the Honorable Mention All-America level with an 18th-place finish.
The Trinity men's 200-yard freestyle relay team posted a time of 1:22.50 for a 13th-place finish. The squad consisting of Adam Thomas, Stephen Culberson, Isaac Johnson, and Kevin Thomas gained Honorable Mention All-America recognition in the event. On Wednesday, Culberson became an individual All-American by finishing fifth in the 50-yard freestyle.
On the women' side, Trinity's Kara Beauchamp completed the second day of NCAA women's competition in 15th place in the 400-yard individual medley. The Honorable Mention All-American swam the race in 4:31.39.
Meanwhile, after smashing her own school record in the 100-meter butterfly earlier Thursday, Colorado College's Olivia Dilorati held on to maintain an eighth-place finish in the consolation finals of the event to earn Honorable Mention All-America honors.
The sophomore from Braintree, Mass., posted the 16th fastest time out of 48 participants in the morning preliminaries with a clocking of 56.57 seconds, which broke the previous Colorado College standard of 56.82 she established last month while winning one of her six Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference titles.
She clocked in at 57.06 in the B final to keep her 16th position overall.
"It is a great accomplishment to make this meet, and so impressive to final and score in your first appearance at the national championships," said CC head coach Anne Goodman James. "This is the first big meet of Olivia's swimming career, and we are so proud of how well she handled herself.
"She raced tough, and had one of the fastest back halfs (29.89) in the field. She is such a great representative for Colorado College women's swimming."
Dilorati, who participated in the 200 individual medley competition on Wednesday, also will swim in the 200 backstroke on Saturday at the four-day national meet being held at the IU Natatorium.
In the team scoring, the Trinity men are tied for 19th place with Tufts University (22 points each) and the Colorado College men are 26th with 14 points. On the women's side, Trinity is in a tie for the No. 22 slot with the State University of New York-Geneseo (18 points each) and Colorado College is tied for 40th after two days of the four-day event.
The 2014 NCAA Championships continue through Saturday.
