Over the NCAA Championships, stretching from March 14 to March 17, the Clan swim team represented SFU well, with an incredible 14 All-American performances during the tournament. Despite this, the women’s team finished in 14th place, while the men’s team finished in 18th place.
Day one of the competition saw Andrew Woinoski and MacKenzie Hamill both take away All-American performances in the 1,000-yard freestyle. After clocking their times in the preliminary morning heat, both athletes had to await their fate until the late evening when the final heat was done. With a time of 9:10.46 for Hamill and 9:12.50 for Woinoski, both got the nod as All-Americans. Hamill finished fifth, and in the process, set a new SFU record for the event, beating his time of 9:11.69 he set in 2016. Woinoski, on the other hand, narrowly got onto the podium, finishing eighth.
On day two, Rolando Hernandez and Jessie Gibson kept the All-American performances coming. Hernandez started the day off in the 400-yard individual medley (where the swimmer swims 100 yards of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle) with a solid fifth-place finish. His time of 3:50.52 was two seconds faster than what he swam in the morning prelims, and narrowly missed Adrian Vanderhelm’s record of 3:48.07 set in 2015. Nonetheless, it is the second fastest time in this event in SFU history.
On the women’s side, Gibson finished fifth in the 100-yard butterfly for the second straight year, with a time of 53.83. Despite the same result as last year, however, she broke a 10-year record in the event for SFU, beating Vicky Sui’s time of 54.96 set in 2008.
Day three saw another onslaught of All-American performances for SFU. Hernandez, Hamill, and Woinoski got the ball rolling by finishing second, fifth, and eighth in the 500-yard freestyle, respectively. The women then added on two All-American performances in the 200-yard butterfly. Gibson battled Queen’s Mckenzie Stevens, who ended up finishing in first with a new NCAA Division II record time of 1:56.89. Gibson finished in second with a time of 1:57.97, a new SFU record, beating her previous SFU record time of 1:59.63. Also in the race was SFU’s Kaleigh Sharkey, who finished in fourth place with a time of 2:01.02.
In the final race of the evening, SFU’s 800-yard freestyle relay team of Gibson, Kristen Olvet, Erin Lawrance, and Sharkey capped off the day in style, shattering the previous SFU record in the event. With a time of 7:24.96, the team finished in eighth of 21 teams.
The final day also saw Hamill take the final All-American performance for SFU, finishing sixth in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:27.02.
SFU finished with 14 First Team All-American performances, with Hamill and Gibson leading the way with three apiece. It was certainly a fantastic performance for the Clan. Here are the complete All-American results for SFU, as per SFU Athletics.
NCAA All-Americans First Team (Finish 1-8); Second Team (Finish 9-12)
MacKenzie Hamill – 500 free (6), 1,000 free (5)*, 1,650 free (6)
Andrew Woinoski – 500 free (8), 1,000 free (8), 1,650 free (10)
Rolando Hernandez – 400 IM (5), 500 free (2)
Jessica Gibson – 100 fly (5)*, 200 fly (2)*, 200 back (12), 800 free relay (8)*
Kaleigh Sharkey – 100 fly (10), 200 fly (4), 800 free relay (8)*
Erin Lawrance – 800 free relay (8)*
Kristen Olvet – 800 free relay (8)*
