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Princeton University
Day Three
Players Mentioned
Aemisegger, Tsai Claim All-Americas; Tigers Place 18th At NCAA Championships
March 21, 2010 | Women's Swimming and Diving
In the final swim of her brilliant career, senior Alicia Aemisegger matched a career-best with a second-place finish in an NCAA final. In her first trip to the NCAA championships, diver Bryna Tsai earned All-America distinction in platform diving. Combined, they led Princeton to yet another Top-20 team finish at the NCAA championship meet.
Aemisegger, who swam her final competitive meet this weekend, placed second to Georgia's Wendy Trott, the reigning national champion, in the 1650 final. Trott was the clear frontrunner in the field and won the event in 15:48.87, while Aemisegger placed second in 15:57.02. The Princeton senior defeated the rest of the field by more than 2.5 seconds to clinch another NCAA runner-up finish to cap her brilliant effort.
"That was a great final race for Alicia," head coach Susan Teeter said. "It was a wonderful way to end an outstanding collegiate career."
Aemisegger, who improved on her third-place finish in the NCAA 1650 final last year, ends her career with 13 All-America honors, 10 championship finals and nine top-five finishes. Her only other second-place finish came as a freshman, when she was edged out by Auburn's Ava Ohlgren in the 400 IM final, but Aemisegger made sure her final swim would be a memorable one. The reigning Ivy champion in the 1650, Aemisegger continued her brilliant distance swims with a silver effort in the mile.
Tsai added to the strong Princeton weekend by finishing 15th in the platform competition to earn All-America honorable mention. It is the second straight year a Tiger diver earned All-America distinction; last year, senior Kathrine Giarra earned All-America honorable mention as well.
Tsai, who qualified for NCAAs by finishing second at the NCAA Zone 'A' Regionals last weekend, scored 252.15 points in the preliminary dives to place 15th overall; that earned her a spot in the consolation finals and assured her All-America distinction. Tsai ended the consolation finals in 15th as well with 240.15 points. Tsai will return as a leader on Greg Gunn's diving squad next year, even though she will only be a sophomore during the 2010-11 season.
Another young leader for Princeton next season will be back specialist Meredith Monroe, who placed 35th in the 200 competition in 1:56.93. Monroe is the reigning Ivy League champion in the 200 and swam the anchor leg of Princeton's 2008 All-America 800 free relay.
Aemisegger and Tsai combined to score 48 points for the Tigers, who finished 18th overall. Princeton was the only non-scholarship school to place in the Top 20, and 17th-place Houston was the only non-B.C.S. school to finish higher than the Tigers.