Terps Send Two Swimmers to NCAAs, Come Back with Two All-Americans
3/22/2006 7:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
March 22, 2006
Athens, Ga. - The Maryland swimming program sent two swimmers to the NCAA Women's Championship in Athens, Ga. last week. By the time the meet was completed, both senior Krisztina Kovacs (Budapest, Hungary) and junior Sasha Malanina (Volgograd, Russia) had earned All-American honors for their performances. The two Terrapins accounted for seven points and a 39th place finish over the three day championship event.
Malanina competed in both the 200 and 400 Individual Medleys as well as the 200 Breaststroke. She improved upon her 33rd place 400 IM finish from last years NCAA Championships, finishing 13th this year to garner All-American honors for the first time in her career.
Kovacs competed in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, just missing the consolation heat in the 100 breaststroke on the second day of the meet. Kovacs improved upon her 27th place finish to take 14th in the 200 breaststroke. The All-American honor was also a first for the senior.
Coach Dave Durden was please with his swimmers performance down in Athens. "I was impressed with how both Sasha and Krisztina handled themselves over the three days. This is not an easy environment to come into and race in both the preliminaries and finals sessions. For both Sasha and Krisztina to come away with All-American honors for the first time in their career is indicative of how we prepare our athletes. We send athletes to NCAAs to score, not just to participate."
The Terrapins concluded their collegiate season, and will return to collegiate action in the fall of 2006. Team members will be competing this summer at the World Championship Trials in Irvine, Calif. Two US National Teams will be selected from this competition including the 2007 World Championship Team and the 2007 Pan-American Games Team.
