COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Junior Anne Marie May placed 15th in the 50 freestyle on Thursday evening, during the first day of the 2009 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships, which are being held through Saturday at Texas A&M. The top-16 finish earned the junior Honorable Mention All-American honors, marking the fourth All-American honor of her career.
During the preliminary heats, May was unable to make the event’s finals, finishing tenth during the morning swim with a time of 22.13. In the event’s consolation final, May clocked in at 22.37 seconds, finishing 15th overall. Arizona’s Lara Jackson won the event in 21.40, a new NCAA meet record.
Last season, May took third in the event with a school record-setting time of 22.00. She broke her own record earlier this season at the Husky Invite, where she finished the event in 21.96 seconds.
May will be back in action tomorrow as the anchor leg in the Gauchos’ 200 medley relay and she will also swim in the 100 free on Saturday.
The Gaucho 400 medley relay team finished 19th overall during the morning’s prelims and missed making the evening’s final in the event. The team, which consisted of Naomi Javanifard, Sara Nicponski, Erin Yamamoto and May, finished in 3:38.74.
The Gauchos will continue action at the 2009 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday. UCSB will have swimmers competing in the 200 medley relay and the 100 breaststroke during the second day of the meet.
