Katie Radloff Selected for the NCAA Championships

Freshman Will Be First W&M Swimmer at Nationals Since 1983

03/01/07 6:25PM

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN - The NCAA Swimming and Diving Committee announced the participants for the Division I Women's Championship today, and for the first time in 24 years a William and Mary individual will compete at the national championships.

Tribe freshman Katie Radloff (Arlington, Va.) was selected for the 100-yard freestyle on the strength of her winning performance at the Terrapin Invitational in November, where she swam 49.55 seconds. In being selected, she is the first Tribe swimmer invited to the NCAA Championships since Erin Sheehey '84 in 1983, and only the second ever. That year, Sheehey qualified for Nationals in the College's first year in the NCAA by winning the 50-yard breaststroke at the Eastern Championships.

Radloff will also compete in the 50-yard and 200-yard freestyles after achieving provisional cuts in both. At the Colonial Athletic Association Championships two weeks ago, Radloff won all three of those events, as well teaming to win the 200 medley relay, 800 free relay, and 400 free relay en route to being named the Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet. During the regular season, Radloff was 24-0 in freestyle races and was named CAA Swimmer of the Week on three occasions.

William and Mary, despite not having a strong record of success at the NCAA Championships, was a powerhouse in the AIAW swimming and diving world, with 27 athletes earning 145 All-American citations. Erin Sheehey won the 1982 50-yard breaststroke national championship, and Jenny Tatnall '81 is the most-decorated athlete in school history with 18 All-American citations (7 individual, 11 relay).

The NCAA Women's Championships will be held March 8-10 at the University of Minnesota. To be selected for the NCAA Championships, a swimmer had to swim faster than either the automatic cut or the provisional cut in an event. After taking all of the automatic swimmers, the committee than filled the field with provisionally-qualified swimmers, beginning with the fastest.