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Lemley on Bente's All-America swim
Wednesday Qualifying Recap
MANSFIELD, Texas – Alaska sophomore
Bente Heller (Hamburg, Germany/Albrecht Thzer Gymnasium) joined a small club in the history of Nanooks swimming on Wednesday night at the 2012 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships at the Mansfield ISD Natatorium as she became just the fourth individual in program history to be called All-American.
Heller once again broke her own varsity record in the 50 freestyle after she won the consolation final heat in 23.39 seconds, to take ninth. That mark, which earned her Honorable Mention All-America status, was .07 better than her preliminary time of 23.46 that placed her 10th. It also bested three individuals in the championship heat, making her time the sixth-fastest in the nation.
“It's rare to be able to go lifetime best in prelims and lifetime best in finals and it shows that she knows how to adjust and get better every time she swims,” head coach
Scott Lemley said. “We'll look forward to even more swims from her where she learns from what she does in prelims and applies it in finals.”
She joins the likes of
Kelly Becker,
Mar Brunet and
Mariya Pavlovskaya, who have all been named All-Americans for the Nanooks. Heller's swim was just the 12th All-America honor in the history of the team as Becker had one (2007), Brunet had two (2009) and Pavlovskaya garnered eight (2009-11).
Earlier in the day, freshman
Danielle Lyons (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan/St. Mary's) finished the 200 individual medley in 32nd place (51 swimmers) with a time of 2:08.79.
On the relay side, the foursome of Heller, freshman
Genevieve Johnson (Fresno, Calif./University), freshman
Margot Adams (Anchorage, Alaska/Frontier Charter) and Lyons were disqualified due to an early start on the freestyle portion. Had their time of 1:45.08 been good, the relay would have qualified eighth for the championship final.
One bright spot during the relay was Heller's 50 backstroke split time, which was clocked at 25.84. That split was the fastest in the country at this year's championships.
Alaska sits in 21st place after the first day with nine points. A total of 27 teams have scored in the championships, as Wayne State leading the way with 134 points.
The action resumes Thursday at 10:30 a.m. with preliminaries, followed by finals at 6 p.m. Four of the five swimmers will be in action tomorrow.
The tandem of Lyons, Adams, freshman
Gabi Summers (Cheyenne, Wyo./Central) and Heller will race in the 200 freestyle relay. Individually the Nanooks will have swimmers in the 400 IM (Lyons, Summers), 100 butterfly (Adams) and the 200 free (Heller, Lyons, Summers).
Live results and
live web streaming of the championships are available through NCAA.com.
