INDIANAPOLIS - Tufts University junior Claire Brennan (pictured) became the first woman in Jumbo history to win a swimming national championship on Thursday night when she captured the 200 freestyle title at the NCAA Championship meet.
Brennan swam a winning time of 1:48.46 to defeat Wheaton College (Mass.) fifth-year Lydia Dacorte (1:48.92) by 0.46 of a second. She joins former diver Kendall Swett, the one- and three-meter national champion in 2008, as the only members of the Tufts women's swimming & diving program to win NCAA championships.
In the preliminaries on Thursday morning, Brennan was first with a 1:49.01 time in the 200 free. Then in the final she won the third national championship by a Tufts student-athlete in the last week. Track & field juniors Lia Rotti (triple jump) and Jaidyn Appel (high jump) won titles last Saturday at their NCAA Championships.
In tonight's final, Brennan was third at the first wall in 25.59 and then moved into second place at 52.94 through 100 yards. She took the lead in the third leg with a 1:20.78 time at the 150-yard touch and came home in a 27.68 final split to win.
Jumbo senior Mary Hufziger placed fourth in the 200 free race tonight with a 1:49.98 time. Both she and Brennan achieved All-American status (top eight). It's the second All-American performance in as many nights for Brennan, who was sixth in the 500 freestyle on Wednesday evening. Junior Katelin Isakoff was just outside of an honorable mention All-American spot (top 16) by placing 17th in the race (1:51.26).
Also on Thursday night, the Jumbo 200 freestyle relay took fifth place for All-American honors. The foursome of Jillian Cudney, Katelin Ulmer, Abby Claus and Mary Hufziger timed 1:33.31 in the final. Claus would also have a ninth-place finish of 4:24.69 in the 400 individual medley for an honorable mention All-American award.
Tufts closed Thursday's action with an honorable mention All-American finish of 14th place in the 400 medley relay, where Claus, freshman Abby Miller, grad student Mary Laurita and Hufziger combined on a 3:49.55 time. Laurita was also top 20 (19th) in the 100 butterfly earlier in the day with a 55.80 touch.
The Jumbos have scored 114 team points at the meet thus far and are tied for sixth place halfway through.
On the third day of the NCAA Championships Friday, Tufts will have Isakoff and Lara Wujciak in the 200 butterfly, Miller in the 100 breaststroke and the 800 freestyle relay in action.
The meet is being held at the IUPUI IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Indiana through Saturday.
