Heather Norris
The LIU Post women’s swim team spent much of its 2012 Spring Break in Texas, participating in the four day NCAA Championship meet from March 14th-17th. At the meet, a number of Post swimmers walked away with both All-American recognition and new school records.
The Pioneers finished their southern experience with a 20th place finish out of 37 teams from around the nation, six positions better than the team’s 2011 finish. Wayne State, out of Detroit, walked away with the national title with a grand total of 497 points.
Sophomore Tamara Garriock kicked the events off for the Pioneers, competing in the 200 individual medley preliminary. However, her 2:07.26 time, which put her in 20th place, was not enough to advance to the finals.
Later in the first day of competition, senior swimmer Cornelia Hanes provided the Pioneers with their first finals appearance of the meet in the 50 freestyle. After swimming a 23.54 in preliminaries, tying for 13th, she completed the final race in 24.01 to take 16th place and to give LIU Post one point in overall meet standings. Hanes also garnered All-American Honorable Mention recognition for the event.
To round out day one, Hanes and Garriock joined with teammates Mairi Morrison, a junior, and Johanna Pettersson, a freshman, to fight it out in the competitive 200 medley relay. In preliminaries, the team completed the race at 1:45.55, a new school record. In finals, the team’s 1:46.19 proved enough to land it in 14th place, accumulating six more points towards the team’s total score, and earning it an All-American Honorable Mention nod.
After coming into day two of competition with just seven total team points, the Pioneers turned up the heat March 15th, putting 33 more points on the board and moving into 17th place overall. By the end of the day, the Pioneers had also earned two more All-American Honorable Mentions in the 200 free relay and 400 medley relay and an All-American Honor, awarded to Garriock in the 200 free.
The Pioneers also broke a number of school records on the second day of the Championship, including Garriock’s 1:50.92 in the 200 free preliminaries and the team’s 3:52.45 in the 400 medley relay.
Garriock began day three for LIU Post when she competed in the 500 free. For the second straight day, she earned All-America honors, this time with a Pioneer record-breaking 4:55.19 that landed her in fifth place and gave the LIU Post team 14 points. Next, Pettersson received All-American Honorable Mention recognition for her efforts in the consolation final of the 100 back.
To round out the team’s NCAA run, the Pioneer 400 free relay, consisting of Garriock, Hanes, Pettersson, and Morrison, swam a 3:29.64 to both earn yet another All-American Honorable Mention and break another school record.
The Pioneers cap their 2011-2012 season with a perfect 7-0 record, a big step up from 2010-2011’s 3-7 record.
Be First to Comment