Empire 8 Women's Swimmers to Compete in NCAA Championship
March 9, 2008
Empire 8 swimmers will compete at the NCAA Division III Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship at Miami University of Ohio Thursday through Saturday.
Senior Emily Lesher of Nazareth College, the Swimmer of the Meet at the recently completed Empire 8 Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship, defends her national title in the 400-yard individual medley, where she is seeded fourth with a time of 4:28.08.
In addition to that event, Lesher will also swim in the 200-yard IM (seeded seventh in 2:06.69) and 200-yard backstroke (sixth in 2:04.70) in this year’s championship. Sophomore teammate Lauren McKinney will race in the 200 IM and 200-yard butterfly.
Four members of the conference champion Ithaca College women’s team qualified for the NCAA championship. Junior Lauren Botterbusch earned All-America honors in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events in last year’s national meet and has qualified for both in this year’s NCAA championship as well as in the 200-yard IM. She is seeded fifth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:22.24 and sixth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.34. Sophomore Jen Heberton qualified in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly, and Empire 8 Rookie of the Meet Sheila Rhoades will compete in the 100-yard freestyle.
The Bombers’ 200-yard medley relay team of senior Kelly Turpin, Botterbusch, Heberton, and Rhoades is seeded ninth after setting a school record in the event in a time of 1:48.0. The quartet will also race in the 400-yard medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Sophomore Caitlyn Burr of Rochester Institute of Technology will join Lesher and McKinney in the 200-yard IM and joins Rhoades in the 100-yard freestyle.
The College of Wooster will serve as host for the NCAA championship and has a web site located at: http://athletics.wooster.edu/swim/ncaa2008/women/default.php