Swimming National Championship Preview
The Asbury College swim team is in St. Peters, Missouri in preparation for this year's NAIA National Swimming and Diving Championships. The four day meet kicks off
today (Wednesday March 4) and will conclude on Saturday evening.
The women are currently rated 6th in the country after a dominating win at the Appalachian Conference Meet, beating the field by nearly 200 points. The women placed 6th at last year's National Meet. Junior Abigail Sterneman was named female swimmer of the meet at this year's conference meet after winning the 100 and 200 breaststroke, she was also part of the winning relay team in both the 200 freestyle, and 200 and 400 medleys.
The men are also coming off an Appalachian Conference title, defeating Mars Hill by 45 points. The men will look to build upon last year's 9th place finish at Nationals and will once again look to Matt Hood to lead the team. Hood was last year's 200 freestyle National Champion and finished 2nd in the 500 freestyle, he would also place 8th in the 100 freestyle. At the conference meet this year Hood won both the 200 and 500 and finished 2nd in the 100. Chris Lipka won the 200 Individual Medley at the conference meet and will be looked up to help with the scoring in both individual and relay races. Malachi Oyer will also be an important factor in the success of the team as he won the 1650 freestyle and placed 3rd in the 500 at the conference meet.
Head Coach Dorothy Kempf was named Appalachian Conference Coach of the Year at the Conference Meet this year.
The National Meet will get started Wednesday morning with the Women's 1 meter diving and the Men's 3 meter diving, Asbury does not currently have any divers on their team. Thursday at 10:00 am the swimming portion gets under way with 10 events scheduled in the preliminary round with the finals coming at 6:00 pm that night. For Live Updates for all events at the National Meet please visit the NAIA Championship Center here.
