Princeton University Athletics
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Monroe Rally Clinches Historic, All-America Day For Princeton Swimming
March 21, 2008 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Freshman Meredith Monroe needed 50 of the best yards of her life to earn All-America honors for herself and three teammates. Despite having broken one Princeton record earlier in the day and swimming 150 yards already against the nation's best competition at the 2008 NCAA Championships, Monroe came up with the goods. Her final lap in the 800 free relay rallied Princeton into a share for 16th place, the last possible place for All-America honors.
Sophomore Alicia Aemisegger had already earned her fifth All-America honor in the 400 IM final during Friday's championship session at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion at The Ohio State University. She picked up her sixth when she led off the historic 800 free relay for Princeton, which placed a relay team for the first time at NCAAs since 1981 (800 free). Aemisegger, Brett Shiflett and Justina DiFazio swam the first three legs of the timed 800 free finals, and by the time Monroe began her anchor leg, the mission became clear. She needed to catch the Penn State squad for sixth place in the second of three heats, and with 50 yards remaining, she trailed by nearly one full second.
Then she turned on the jets, the same ones that helped her set the 100 back record at Princeton with a prelim swim of 54.99 seconds. Her final lap time of 28.06 topped the final Penn State lap of 29.04, and both swimmers touched the wall at the exact same time of 7:14.25. That time would hold up for 16th place in the event and earn the first All-America honors for Monroe, Shiflett and DiFazio.
Aemisegger finished fourth in the 400 IM final (4:05.44) to place in the top five of an NCAA final for the fourth time in her young career. On Thursday, she placed fifth in the 500 free final, and she will go for a third individual All-America honor when she competes in the 1650 during Saturday's final session. Princeton will send another handful of swimmers during the final day, including the debut swim for Monika Friedman in the 200 fly.
"It was a great day for Meredith and it was fun to have the whole team here and show people that our program can compete with anybody," head coach Susan Teeter said. "It was great for Meredith to come back after getting sick late in the season and see she can bounce back and have a great swim."
Shiflett placed 28th of 74 swimmers in the 200 free (1:47.16), while DiFazio finished in 1:50.34. Both will come back Saturday to compete in the 100 free. Senior Lisa Hamming, whose brilliant 400 IM victory was the highlight of Princeton's third straight Ivy League championship, finished her prelim in 4:20.44, while Courtney Kilkuts, the Ivy champion in the 100 breast, completed her prelim in 1:05.01.