Lavell Earns All-America Honors
3/28/2005 7:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
March 28, 2005
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Senior Elizabeth Lavell (Annapolis, Md.) earned All-America honors in the 400-yard individual medley, and six Terps garnered Honorable Mention All-America status at the NCAA Championships March 17-19.
Lavell placed eighth in the 400-IM, clocking in at 4:18.82. Earlier in the day she broke her own school record, posting a time of 4:13.89. Lavell is the Terps' first All-American since Shandra Johnson earned the honors in the 200-yard freestyle in 2003. Lavell also notched Honorable Mention All-America status in the 500- free, placing 16th with a time of 4:48.98. She broke Johnson's school record in the preliminaries of the event, clocking in at 4:44.12.
Senior Megan Knepper (Williamsport, Md.) and sophomore Gigi deToll (Culpeper, Va.) garnered individual Honorable Mention All-America honors as well. Knepper finished 15th in the 100-yard backstroke (55.20), while deToll placed 15th in the 100-yard butterfly (54.89). A day earlier, Knepper broke her own school record in the 100-back, swimming a 54.21 leadoff split in the 400-yard medley relay.
Three Maryland relays also earned honorable mention status at the meet. The 200-yard medley relay team of Knepper, senior Marina Mulyayeva (Almaty, Kazakhstan), deToll and senior Cynthia Weir (Irwin, Pa.) took 10th (1:41.52), while the 200-free relay team of senior Chrissy Miller (Seaside Park, N.J.), Knepper, Weir and Mulyayeva placed 13th (1:32.23) and the 400-free relay team of Miller, Knepper, Weir and Mulyayeva finished 16th (3:23.01).
All-America honors are awarded to the top eight finishers in each event, while honorable mention status is given to the next eight, or finishers nine through 16.
This marks the third consecutive year Lavell has achieved honorable mention status. She finished 13th in the 1,650-free and 15th in the 800-free relay in 2003, and she placed 13th in the 200-medley relay and 14th in the 400-medley relay in 2004. This is also the third consecutive year Knepper has achieved honorable mention status. She finished 15th in the 800-free relay in 2003, and she placed 13th in the 200-medley relay and 14th in the 400-medley relay in 2004. This is both deToll's and Mulyayeva's second time receiving an honorable mention nod, as they were on the 13th-place 200-medley relay and the 14th-place 400-medley relay in 2004.
