March 20, 2010
Results | Complete Championships Results
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's swimming and diving team scored the highest national finish in program history by placing 16th with 57 points as the NCAA Championships concluded Saturday evening inside the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
"I'm really proud of our swimmers and divers," head coach John Klinge said. "All nine of our student-athletes scored in the meet and led our team to the highest finish ever. We have a special group that has had a great year. This was a great way to finish the season."
Freshman Caitlin Hamilton earned the highest placing in the 1,650-yard freestyle in Purdue history and lowered her program record in the process. The Normal, Ill., native completed the race in 16 minutes, 02.01 seconds to finish eighth and become an All-American. Hamilton's time also betters the previous record of 16:02.61 she set while finishing second at last month's Big Ten Championships and is the first All-American in the longest distance race for Purdue after honorable-mention nods in 1991, 1997 and 1998.
"Being an All-American is such a huge honor," Hamilton said. "We had a team goal for all of us to at least be an honorable mention All-American, and to join the rest of my teammates in doing that is great. It hasn't sunk it. It's still so crazy and so exciting. The fact that Janet Evans, a legend, presented the award to me is huge. I'm so proud to be an All-American as a Boilermaker."
Ariel Martin, Lisa Butler, Lauren Roth and Leah Henninger finished 16th in the 400 freestyle relay to earn honorable mention All-America honors for the second straight day. The quartet touched the wall in 3:20.82 in a follow up to its 15th-place showing in the 800 freestyle relay Friday evening.
In addition to the five All-Americans from Saturday, four other Boilermakers earned All-American accolades throughout the three-day meet. Sophomore Casey Matthews finished fifth in the 3-meter and ninth in the 1-meter, while junior Erin Mertz was eighth in the 1-meter and classmate Allie Smith took 16th in the 100 backstroke. Fellow junior Jessica Davis swam the second leg on Purdue's 16th-place 200 medley relay that also included Smith, Butler and Martin.
The Boilermakers set new program highs for individual All-Americans, most scoring events and best team finish at an NCAA Championships. The nine different All-Americans betters the previous mark of five set in 2003 and 2005, while the seven different scoring events is an improvement over the five from 2005 and the 16th-place finish betters the 17th-place showing from 2005.