Trinity Wins 11th Straight SCAC Women's Swimming & Diving Championship

(Photo courtesy of Joe Fusco)

ROCKWALL, Texas -- Trinity University won its 11th straight Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Women's Swimming & Divnig Championship Saturday evening at the Rockwall Independent School District Natatorium. Official Website | Saturday's Complete Results | Team Scores | Video Recap | All-SCAC Team

The Tigers scored 904 points in another dominating performance at the conference championship meet. Sophomore Kara Beauchamp, who has won all six of the individual career events she has entered, earned her second consecutive SCAC Female Swimmer-of-the-Meet honor and sophomore Ashley Heline, who swept both the 1- and 3-meter board, was named SCAC Female Diver-of-the-Meet.

The Colorado College coaching staff, led by head coach Anne Goodman James, was named SCAC Women's Staff-of-the-Year for the second consecutive year.

Colorado College finished in second with 693 points, the third consecutive year that the Tigers have finished as runner-up at the SCAC championships. University of California-Santa Cruz placed third in its inaugural SCAC championship with 551 points and Southwestern University was fourth with 468 points. Centenary College was fifth with 382 points and Austin College rounded out the standings in sixth place with 138 points.

Senior Melanie Gustafson started the evening with a win in the 1650 freestyle in a NCAA 'B' cut time of 17:38.74. It was the second consecutive 1650 win for Gustafson in SCAC championship competition. Trinity junior Sarah Miller was second in a time of 18:10.57 and senior Josanne VanDerWilk of UC-Santa Cruz was third in 18:22.84.

Sophomore Olivia Dilorati of Colorado College also defended her 200 backstroke title, dominating the field with a NCAA 'B' cut finishing time of 2:03.92. Just as a year ago, sophomore Lauren Wheeler of Austin College was second to Dilorati and touched the wall at 2:08.83. Sophomore Becca Bond of Trinity was just behind Wheeler in third in a time of 2:08.90. 

Senior Brenna Day of Colorado College won her second career 100 free title (2012) with a finishing time of 52.25. Junior Lydia Jones of Trinity was second in a time of 52.53 and her teammate senior Rachel Berude finished third in 53.23.

In the 200 breast, it was sophomore Kara Beauchamp winning her third individual title of the championships, taking first place in a time of 2:20.71 - easily attaining a NCAA 'B' cut. First-year swimmer Krystal Feri of UC-Santa Cruz, who also met the NCAA 'B' cut standard, was second in 2:26.10 and sophomore Melanie Gillespie of Colorado College finished third in a time of 2:24.97.

After taking second place in the 100 fly and 200 IM, senior Rachel Olson of Centenary earned the gold medal she was seeking, taking first-place in the 200 fly in a NCAA 'B' cut time of 2:06.34. Sophomore Megan Gillespie, swimming in her second-consecutive final, earned All-SCAC honors with a second-place finish in a time of 2:08.24 which was also good for a NCAA 'B' cut. Senior Meghan Varner of Trinity took third place with a finishing time of 2:11.21.

In the final women's event of the championships, the Colorado College 400 relay team of Dilorati, sophomore Erin Holmes, sophomore Annalise Grigereit and Day picked up the program's fourth relay win in five attempts, earning a SCAC meet and open record in the process with a finishing time of 3:30.82. The time was also good enough for a NCAA 'B' cut. Finishing in second was Trinity University (Jones, Berude, sophomore Leah Selznick and freshman Alyssa Cuda) in a time of 3:33.29 and coming in third was Southwestern University (freshman Madison Doty, junior Blythe Nava, freshman Sandy de Haas, junior Makaylee Frederick) with a finishing time of 3:37.36.

In all, 18 NCAA 'B' cuts were achieved and three SCAC championship meet records were established during the women's portion of this year's conference meet.

All SCAC swimmers who achieved 'B' cuts will await word from the NCAA regarding official selections for the national championships.