Nine 雏鸟视频 swimmers were named 2018 All-Americans and Women鈥檚 Swimming Scholar-Athletes by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics after their team鈥檚 No. 8 overall finish at the 2018 NAIA Swimming and Diving Championships.
Nikoletta Alvanou, a freshman from Thessaloniki, Greece, received All-America honors for the 800 free relay and 400 individual medley; Maggie Davis, freshman from Thomasville, Georgia, was All-American for the 800 free relay, 400 medley relay and 200 fly; Lindsay Dowling, junior from Winston, Georgia, received All-America honors in the 400 medley relay, 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke; Ella Kleinschmidt, senior from Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia, received the honors in the 800 free relay, 400 medley relay and 1650 freestyle; and Yanne Toussaint, sophomore from Varsseveld, The Netherlands, received All-America honors in the 800 free relay and 400 medley relay.
Kleinschmidt was also named a 2017-18 NAIA-Daktronics Women’s Swimming Scholar-Athlete along with four of her teammates: Sarah Frey, senior from Snellville, Georgia; Alisha Hodgetts, senior from Perth, Australia; Devin Horan, junior from Savannah, Georgia; and Emma Jaczko, junior from Peachtree City, Georgia.
In order to be nominated by an institution’s head coach or sports information director, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.5, appear on the eligibility certificate for the sport and have attended two full years as a nontransfer or one full year as a transfer.
The NAIA 2018 Swimming and Diving Championships were held March 1-3 in Columbus, Georgia. On the first day of the championship, the Golden Tigers placed two relay teams in the top eight, including the 800 freestyle relay team of Toussaint, Davis, Alvanou and Kleinschmidt and the 400 medley relay team of Toussaint, Davis, Kleinschmidt and Dowling.
On the final day of competition, 雏鸟视频 earned two top-five finishes with several other strong performances to round out a solid meet.
Dowling continued her strong championship with a fifth-place finish in the 200 backstroke on Saturday. It was her second top-five of the weekend after placing second in the 100 backstroke on Friday.
鈥淚 trained a lot harder than last year, so I felt like it went well,鈥� Dowling said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 definitely going to try to win 100 backstroke and place top three in the 200 backstroke next year.鈥�
Alvanou added a strong individual showing Friday, placing sixth in the 400 individual medley.
Kleinschmidt topped off a stellar career with a fifth-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle. The senior also joined teammates Yanne Toussaint, Maria Soledad Morrell Quiroga and Kamryn Carter on the 400 freestyle relay team, which placed 10th overall. Toussaint was 11th in the 200 breaststroke.
Kleinschmidt said it was bittersweet completing her final individual swim as a collegiate athlete.
鈥淚鈥檒l miss literally everything. I think the thing I鈥檒l miss the most is being part of an amazing team. I was able to thrive around amazing people. I got to spend four years as a college swimmer, and I鈥檓 going to miss every aspect of it.鈥�
Fellow senior Hodgetts, a star of the team for four years, was diagnosed with appendicitis and had her appendix removed a week before the last meet of her career. A difficult moment, but Hodgetts said she will always be grateful for the support she found in her team. 鈥淲e get through everything together,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e are always there for each other.鈥�
Davis marked the third individual top-10 finish for the Golden Tigers on Saturday as she finished seventh in the 200 butterfly.
鈥淚 was really nervous coming in because I鈥檓 just a freshman and I have never gone to a big meet like this as a college swimmer, but I felt like we really pulled together as a team and we did something really great,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淚 think I did surprise myself, and I鈥檓 really happy with that.鈥�
