Led by junior Danielle Valley’s All-American designation and seventh-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle, school records fell and personal bests were lowered at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships last week at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Valley, a transfer from the University of Florida, proved to be stellar; her 1650 time of 16:00.43 set a new school record and made her the only Wisconsin woman to get first-team All-American honors. Valley also placed 24th in the 500-yard freestyle.
Fellow distance swimmer Jenny Holtzen went out with a bang in her final meet as a Badger. The senior finished 16th overall and second in an epic 1650 heat, receiving an honorable mention All-American designation in her final race, where she was out-touched by Georgia’s Rachel Zilinskas by 0.24 seconds. Her time of 16:06.98 was a career best. Holtzen also won her heat in the 500, finishing 40th with a time of 4:44.92.
Chase Kinney had an outstanding meet, competing on all four relays as well as reaching the consolation finals in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles. The junior placed 14th in the 100 with a time of 48.45 seconds. Her prelim time of 48.36 was a career best. In the 50, Kinney achieved another career best, going sub-22 for the first time ever with a time of 21.90 seconds, which was good for tenth place. Both of her individual swims were given honorable mention All-American designations.
Junior Dana Grindall had a strong performance in the butterfly events, breaking the school record in the 200-yard butterfly and tying for 20th place in the 100-yard version of the event. Grindall’s record-breaking 200 fly time of 1:56.40 was good for 19th place in a loaded field.
Maria Carlson, the final individual competitor for the Badgers, also had some strong swims in the breaststroke events. She placed 41st in the 100-yard version of the event and 58th in the 200.
The Badgers’ relays had strong performances during the week. The 200-yard medley relay team of Jess Unicomb, Anna Meinholz, Grindall and Kinney placed 13th, recording a season-best time in prelims. Unicomb, Carlson, Grindall and Kinney placed 24th in the 400-yard version of that relay.
The 200-yard freestyle relay consisted of Kinney, Unicomb, Marissa Berg and Annie Tamblyn, and ended placing ninth overall and garnering honorable mention All-American honors in the process. The same lineup competed in the 400-yard version of that relay and ended up placing 18th in 3:16.05, a season best.
Next up for the Badgers’ swimming and diving program is the men’s NCAA Championships, which will also take place at Georgia Tech. That meet starts March 23.
