NCAA Division III Day Two Team Recaps

Carleton Men: Marschall Earns All-America Honorable Mention in 400 IM
Senior Ted Marschall (Burnsville, Minn.) added another All-America honorable mention award to his swimming résumé after winning the consolation finals in the 400-yard individual medley at the 2009 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. Marschall amassed 23 points in the team competition. Without the help of other teammates or relays, he is 18th out of 41 programs to score at the national meet.

Marschall earned a spot in the evening session after qualifying 10th with a time of 3:59.85 during prelims. At night, he cut more than two seconds off that time, finishing at 3:57.56 to capture ninth place and top honors in the consolation race.

He finished fifth overall in this event as a rookie, then was fourth in 2007 before grabbing second place at last year’s national meet.

Marschall is racing at nationals for the fourth time in his collegiate career. A seven-time All-American, this marked the third race to earn him All-America honorable mention.

He does not have a race scheduled for Friday and will swim his last event of the NCAA Championships, the 200-yard breaststroke, on Saturday. The preliminary round begins at 10 a.m. with the finals contested at 5:30 p.m.

Carleton Women: All Five Knights Repeat as All-America Honorable Mention
Despite an up and down day in the water, all five Carleton women racing at the 2009 NCAA Division III Swimming Championships once again garnered All-American honorable mention status. Maggie Alexander (Fy./Tigard, Ore./Tualatin) finished ninth in the 200-yard freestyle while the Knights’ 400 medley relay placed 14th. Midway through the national meet, Carleton is 16th in the team competition with 24 points.

Maggie Alexander broke her own personal-best time in the 200-yard freestyle during the morning preliminary round, as she finished at 1:52.00. She improved on that mark, winning the consolation finals in 1:51.21. She is the second-fastest woman in that event in the history of Carleton swimming. She placed 16th in the 500-yard freestyle on Wednesday.

The 400-yard medley relay—the last to qualify for the national meet—finished with the 11th-best time (3:53.84) during the preliminary round and nearly matched that during the consolation final. Kale Zicafoose (So./Omaha, Neb./Westside) led off the evening swim with a school-record time of 57.84 during what amounted to the 100-yard backstroke. Kate Alexander (Jr./Tigard, Ore./Tualatin) swam the breaststroke, Kaarin Taylor (Sr./Gainesville, Fla.) followed with the butterfly, and Becky Alexander (Sr./Tigard, Ore./Tualatin) swam the freestyle leg to close the event with a cumulative time of 3:53.88, good for 14th.

In other action on day two:
The 200-yard freestyle relay entry of Maggie Alexander, Kate Alexander, Taylor and Becky Alexander finished 21st with a time of 1:39.45.

Kate Alexander finished 26th in the 400-yard individual medley after recording a time of 4:43.62.

Taylor posted one of the top 100-yard butterfly swims of her collegiate career, finishing 40th at 58.96.

Friday is a much lighter workload day as Carleton is slated for only three swims. Individually, Zicafoose will compete in the 100-yard backstroke, and Kate Alexander races in the 100-yard breaststroke. The Knights have one multi-swimmer race on day three, the 800-yard freestyle relay.

St. Mary’s Women: Hotchko Improves Finish at NCAAs
Rachel Hotchko (Yakima, Wash./A.C. Davis), who is making her second consecutive trip to the NCAAs, placed in the top 25 in the 100 butterfly event Thursday at the 2009 NCAA Division III Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
 
Hotchko finished 23rd out of 47 swimmers in the 100 fly with her time of 57.81.  She had entered the event seeded 19th.  Last year, Hotchko took 29th in the same event (59.97).
 
The junior has one more event left as Hotchko will compete in the 100 freestyle event on Saturday.
 
Senior captain Brie McDowell (Doylestown, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) returns to the pool today in the 100 backstroke as McDowell pursues her third career All-America honor.  She is seeded third in the event with her school record time of 56.62.  The 2009 Capital Athletic Conference Women’s Swimmer-of-the-Year, McDowell earned her first All-America citation in 2007 as she finished ninth in the 100 back.
 
This is the fourth consecutive season that St. Mary’s has been represented at the NCAA championships.  The championships are being hosted by Macalester College at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center and competition will wrap up this Saturday with the crowning of the team champions.  It is the first-time ever that the men’s and women’s swimming championships are being held at the same time.