Colorado Wins Fourth Straight Title at American Swimming Association University League National Championships

OXFORD, Ohio, April 6. AT the 5th Annual ASA U. National Championships at Miami University this weekend, Colorado swept the team titles, more than doubling the points of its nearest competitors in the women's and overall divisions.

The outcome was less than certain on the men's side, with the University of Florida putting up a formidable challenge, besting Colorado in three relays: Florida won the 400 free and 400 medley relays and took second to JMU's record-setting 4 x 50 freestyle relay (1:26.23) with Colorado right behind in each event. The Florida tag-team of Tobias Work and William Walters together broke 6 records with respective finishes of 1-2 in the 400 I.M., 2-1 in the 200 and 500 free, and 3-2 in the 200 I.M.; Work also came out on top in the 200 back and Walters won the gold in the 200 fly.

Metro State College of Denver had a trio of multiple-record-setters at the meet: Danny Keeling of Metro State College of Denver had a perfect individual meet performance of 5 national records and 5 wins in his 5 individual events: 25 fly (10.41), 100 I.M. (50.64), 100 fly (49.56), 50 fly (22.42), and 200 I.M. (1:50.86). Averill Sehler obliterated the 1650 freestyle record by almost 40 seconds with her time of 18:09.17, adding to her 200 back (2:12.94) and 200 free (1:57.08) records, while teammate Kendra Dobie set records in the 200 I.M. (2:15.69) and 200 breast (2:29.95).

Megan Priddy of ECU took the top spot in all five of her individual events, lowering the 25 backstroke record to 13 seconds flat and the 50 fly record to 26.33 seconds.

Steve Hilk from Penn State won the 25, 50, and 100 yard events to sweep the backstroke sprints, winning the 100 in a national-record time of 51.72.

Former Olympian Bryan Kim of Temple set three club swimming records: 50 breast (26.63), 200 breast (2:05.75) and 200 fly 1:52.76.

Emily Sampl of Colorado bested her 50 breast record and won the 25 breast in a performance that may have been the fastest ever at a club meet, but which couldn't be certified due to a malfunction of the timing system in that event.

Mizzou club swimmer Moones Mellouli, brother of Olympic champion Ous Mellouli, medaled in four events, taking gold in the men's 200 breaststroke.

The meet was the largest and fastest ever for the collegiate club swimming league, featuring over 400 swimmers from 25 clubs and boasted perhaps the largest event program of any swimming competition at any level, with fifty events including 25's, 50's, 100's, and 200's of each stroke; a 100, 200, and 400 I.M.; the 500 and 1650 free; and 4 relays.

The organization swelled to a membership of 56 clubs in its fifth year, up from 32 the year before, and divided into seven competitive regions, each of which held a regional championship meet this year that served as a qualifier for Nationals. Some clubs at Nationals included members of recently dropped varsity men's programs from schools such as Ohio University and JMU, who both won relays in record times, giving the swimmers the opportunity to represent their schools once again.

Special thanks to the ASA for contributing this report.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x