The Maroons completed yet another successful season with the four-day 2017 NCAA Division III Championships in Shenandoah, TX, over spring break. The team finished 11th overall in the country in the men's and the women’s.
The team finished with a remarkable 40 All-American performances and even broke seven school records.
The women had three individual competitors and the men had six individual competitors and one relay team.
Maya Scheidl, a fourth-year captain, finished 14th in the 100-yard freestyle while also breaking the school record with a time of 50.92. With that Honorable Mention All-American performance, the fourth-year achieved All-American status 16 times as an athlete of the college. “It's such a weird feeling, but it's something I've been anticipating this whole year,” Scheidl said. “Going into senior year, it's kind of surreal, last-first time. Even hitting last Monday, when we had our last practice in our pool, every single moment along the way had a moment of reflection. Finishing that last race was so surreal, it was almost like an out of body experience.”
Another fourth-year, Alison Wall, finished her very impressive athletic career at UChicago with Honorable Mention All-American honors in the 200-yard backstroke. Wall finished ninth in 2:00.17 to bring her All-American tally to 19 over her four years.
Fourth-year Cara LoPiano was also Honorable Mention All-American in the women's 1,650-yard freestyle finals with a 12th-place finish in 17:09.05.
Second-year Alexander Farrell finished seventh in the men's 100-yard freestyle time, making him an All-American and setting a new school record of 44.58. The new program record placed him seventh in the finals, clinching All-American honors.
The men’s team had two All-Americans in the 200-yard breaststroke, and they both happened to be first-years. First-year Reona Yamaguchi set a new school record of 1:59.95, which brought him to eighth place overall. Lance Culjat was also an All-American, taking 15th place with a time of 2:02.70, right behind Yamaguchi.
Another first-year, Aaron Guo, became an All-American as well in the men's 1,650-yard freestyle finals with a final time of 15:43.68, placing him 12th. In addition to this accomplishment, he was able to break two school records. He set a new 1,000-yard freestyle record with his split of 9:29.01 and ended up shattering the 1,650-yard record by 20 seconds.
The UChicago men's 400-yard freestyle relay took 13th in a time of 3:01.31, making them All-Americans, as well. The relay consisted of fourth-year Jonathan Simoneau, second-year Alexander Farrell, second-year Dalton Mitchell, and first-year Byrne Litschgi.
Litschgi also finished 21st in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:49.69.
Overall, the swim and dive teams showed very impressive performances with exciting futures ahead of many of the athletes. There is much anticipation for next season and the success that is to come.
