Swimming in Palo Alto, California, the University of the Incarnate Word synchronized swimming team swam to a third place finish against the best teams in the NCAA at the 2010 Collegiate National Championships.
Ohio State University repeated as champions with a 96.0 team finish that was well-ahead of second place Stanford University at 82.0. UIW scored a 72.0 and tied last year’s third-place team, Canisius College. Lindenwood University rounded up the top five with a 52.0-point finish for fifth place.
The Cardinals did the most damage to their competition by taking third place in the Team event, with the UIW ‘A’ Squad scoring a 91.375 for third place – breaking up the two team sent by Ohio State. OSU took first and Stanford second with scores of 95.500 and 94.875, respectively. UIW’s ‘A’ team is made up of Brianna Andreychuk, Hannah Creaser, Saki Fujise, Molly Knight, Seyeon Min, Anna Nelson, Alex Stensby and Rosilyn Tegart.
The Incarnate Word ‘B’ team (consisting of Colleen Dwyer, Natalie Krakoski, Ingrid Lundblad, Sarah Nicole Neufeld, Elizabeth Norton, Andrea Patterson, Kelsey Smith and Leah Wallace) finished seventh overall with a score of 87.000. Only the ‘A’ squads of Stanford, Canisius and Lindenwood and the two teams from Ohio State were better in the pool than UIW’s ‘B’ team.
Rosilyn Tegart finished fifth in the Solo competition at Collegiates this weekend.
In the Solo Competition, Tegart was the lone Cardinal whose score counted to the team’s overall finish, and her routine scored an 88.000, good for fifth place. Canisius College took first and third (94.000 for Natalia Tarasova; 91.500 for Yulia Shepelva) and Ohio State’s Barbara Nesbitt took second with a 93.500. Stanford’s Jessica Guenther finished in fourth with an 89.125.
UIW also finished fifth in the Duet Compeition, with Fujise and Min scoring an 89.375. Ohio State took first and Canisius finished second while Stanford took the third and fourth place spots.
Finally, in the Trio event, UIW took fifth and sixth. The team of Fujise, Stensby and Tegart finished at 88.875 while the second trio of Andreychuk, Min and Knight (alternate Anna Nelson) were just behind at 88.125. Ohio State took first (93.125) and third (92.750) while Stanford took second (93.000) and fourth (90.125).
With the Collegiate Championships over, now UIW’s athletes will focus on the 2010 U.S. National Synchro Championships, being held in Huntersville, North Carolina on April 14th-17th.