While most students were making their post-spring break trips to Ashland, the swimming national team was busy boarding a plane to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The 2012 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships ran March 14 through March 17 in Mansfield, Texas.

It was my third trip to the NCAA Championships, and it was far from what I’ve come to think of as a “normal” championship meet.

One of the reasons I noticed this contrast was the scheduling of the meet. Unlike past years, where the meet dates have coincided with the university’s spring break, the meet was one week after spring break this year. We were among the few students here on campus over break.

As a result of what seemed like a pre-meet retreat, the team morale was incredibly high leading up to the meet. I noticed a happy-go-lucky mentality to an extent that I’ve never seen before; it seemed like we were more concerned with having fun than stressing ourselves out preparing for the championships.

This really motivated me, especially having a team much smaller than what we have seen in the past. We sent only 12 to the meet this year, compared to the 18 qualified last year.

We needed every advantage we could get in what was the fastest, deepest DII championship in history, especially coming off of two of the most successful years for the men’s and women’s programs in school history.

Having so few people made fielding relays especially difficult, primarily on the men’s side. The 200-yard medley relay on March 14 was the only relay with the same members as those who swam on it at the GLIAC Championships last month.

Injuries made it even more difficult, especially with the knee problems that junior Cheyne Fisher has been struggling with.

The AU women placed seventh in the final standings with 158 points. GLIAC opponent Wayne State University won the women’s championship by one point over three-time defending champion Drury University, 497 points to 496.

In the men’s standings, the AU men finished in 16th place with 70 points. The Drury University men won their eighth straight DII title with 473 points. UC-San Diego was second with 400 points.

Day 1 – March 14

The men jumped onto the board in the first event, when sophomore Alex Sheil took 12th in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing in a school-record 1:50.21. His late-season time drop in the event was thanks in large part to improving on his breaststroke; Sheil’s 32.01 split was 1.3 seconds faster than his time trial at the GLIAC Championships.

The women jumped into the points race in the second event of the night. Julie Widmann took third for the second year in a row in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing in 23.10 seconds.

The women’s 200-yard medley relay team of sophomore Sara Reidler, senior Maura Anderson, and juniors Rachael Ausdenmoore and Widmann took third in 1:43.47.

Our men’s 200 medley relay team with juniors Mauri Uranga and Fisher and sophomore Jake Miller finished 15th in 1:30.54.

Day 2 – March 15

The second day of the meet was the hardest in terms of point-scoring potential, as there were only two finals swims for the men and one for the women.

The women’s 200-yard freestyle relay (Widmann, Ausdenmoore, sophomore Gaby Verdugo Arzaluz and senior Mary Cargill) took fourth in 1:33.41. The men (Miller, Sheil, Uranga and me) were 15th in 1:23.22.

Our men’s 400-yard medley relay was one that starkly contrasted the one swum at GLIACs, with three of the four relay legs changing. Uranga, Sheil, Miller and I managed an 11th place finish with a time of 3:18.97.

The women’s 400 medley relay would have qualified fourth for finals with their swim in the preliminaries, but they were disqualified for a false start.

Day 3 – March 16

AU’s points on the third night were very compartmentalized, with both the women and men scoring with multiple swimmers in only one event each.

The 100-yard backstroke was that event for the women. Widmann won a national championship in the event with a time of 54.66, narrowly touching out Ouachita Baptist University’s Ksenia Gromova and Wayne State’s Ana Azamuja for the title. Reidler was also in the final of the sprint backstroke, taking eighth in 56.42 seconds.

This was the first individual national championship that an AU swimmer has won since Omar Fathallah won the 50 free in 2007.

Just as the 100 back was a big scorer for the women, the 100-yard breaststroke was a big event for the men. Fisher took eighth place in the event with a 55.74 finals swim, and I was 11th in 55.02 seconds.

Day 4 – March 17

In the second event of the night, the 100-yard freestyle, Widmann took seventh place in 50.92 seconds.

Uranga swam to a 15th place finish in the men’s 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:50.06.

Like in the 100 breast, we had one man in each heat of the 200-yard breaststroke finals as well. Fisher took fifth in 1:58.18 and I was 11th in 2:00.50.

The women’s 400-yard freestyle relay of Anderson, Cargill, Ausdenmoore and Widmann came back for a fourth place finish (3:24.11) on the heels of Widmann’s 49.41 anchor split.

The men’s 400 free relay (Sheil, Miller, Uranga and me) finished finals in 14th place with a time of 3:02.99.