Mattar leaves NCAA with three All-American Honors
March 30, 2015
After being named the GLIAC Women’s Swimmer of the Year, Mattar spent her spring break preparing for the 2015 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
Even at the start of the season, Coach Derick Roe already had a good idea that Mattar was going to find success this season.
“Hannah Mattar, who is ranked in the top ten in all four of her events is leading the pack for the women’s side and will bring the program success,” said Roe back in January.
Roe said he is always impressed with Mattar and that other coaches were blown away by her performance at the GLIAC Championships where she won women’s swimmer of the year.
Mattar returned to nationals again this season in four events for the Division II Championships in Indianapolis, Ind.
“It is such an exciting meet,” said Mattar. “There is so much fast swimming and it is a really fun environment to swim in.”
Last year as a sophomore, Mattar went to nationals in three of her four individual events. She returned this season in the same events minus the 400-medley relay team that made it to nationals a year ago.
On day one of the meet, Mattar came into the 200 IM finals seeded fourth after swimming 2:02.19 in the preliminaries.
She earned All-American honors after finishing sixth in the 200 individual medley, touching the wall in 2:01.95
It was in the second day of the meet when Mattar earned her second All-American honor as she placed fifth in the women’s 400-yard individual medley.
She finished with the time 4:19.47, which was almost a second faster than her third place preliminary, which she finished in 4:20.31.
By the end of day two, Mattar had already added a pair of All-American titles.
Day three was a special day for Mattar. Not only did she compete and place ninth in the 200-yard butterfly, she also celebrated her 21st birthday. Mattar clocked in at 2:02.21 in the event.
Mattar won her third All-American of the week in day four of the meet. She placed fourth in the 200 individual medley, touching at 2:15.77.
“I had some pretty high expectations for this meet, last year I had such a great year,” soad Mattar
Mattar had the goal of getting in the top eight of all four events and although she did not reach this goal, she came incredibly close and is happy with the work she put in throughout the entire season.
“It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but it was not a disappointment,” said Mattar. “I guess I can’t really complain about how I did. Being named All-American three times is an honor, but next year there is definitely more to work for.”
As she enters her senior year, Mattar can go in confidently knowing her success this season is only going to improve next year.
“It is encouraging to win those awards,” said Mattar. “Even though I did not swim as fast as I wanted, I was still able to compete with those girls and make is top eight in most of my events. Being named All-American a few times will push me even more to place higher and higher.”