Colorado captured their third consecutive East Coast Collegiate Swimming and Diving National Championship (Photo Courtesy: Patrick Chai)ATLANTA – University of Colorado completes a clean sweep of the team trophy, while Florida and Missouri finished second and third respectively. In 2012, Florida men’s team spoiled Colorado’s attempt at the clean sweep, but the Buffalos’ depth in all events made up the difference this year. On the final day of the 2013 East Coast Collegiate Swimming and Diving National Championships, the University of Colorado – Boulder used last year’s miss step as motivation to claim the clean podium sweep. Armed with a healthy lead after Day 2 of competition, the swimmers and divers from Boulder made sure that no team will make up the points gap. Here are some of the highlights.
1. Darton State College shines again
The swimmers and divers from south Georgia shines again in the final day of competition. Anna Macht takes home even more hardware, winning both the 50 Backstroke (23.45) and 50 Breaststroke (30.38) and claiming the Most Valuable Female Swimmer award. Her teammate TJ Bland took home two more gold as well, winning the 50 Breaststroke (25.33) and the 100 IM (51.55). Crawford Berry wins both 1m and 3m springboard.
2. Colorado’s dominance
The Colorado team continues to dominate the collegiate scene, winning their third consecutive National Championship. The Colorado women cruised to victory with strong swims from top to bottom. The men’s team victory took a slightly different route as they had only a small handful of medalists, but made up for it with depth at every event. In the end, the difference was too much for Florida to make up.
3. Florida falls short
Even with the help of Olympic veteran Sara Bateman, the Gator could not make up ground on the defending champions. However, Florida’s swimmer still took home plenty of medals and team trophies, finishing second in overall, men, and women team ranking behind Colorado. James Turner and Will Walters tied for the Most Valuable Male Swimmer award, tying with 122 individual points.
4. Princeton’s Michelle Yakubisin
After claiming her first medal, a silver, in last night’s competition, the lone Tiger claimed gold in the 100 Freestyle final (54.22), beating out highly decorated ECC veterans Kate Booth and Margaret Fox from Colorado. It will be interesting to see if the Tigers will be a force to be reckoned with if the full team is able to travel.
5. Penn State
While the Nittany Lions failed to bring home team hardware, their overall team spirit was on full display all weekend. Their swimmers and divers danced, cheered, and made the atmosphere at the 2013 ECC National Championships an even more memorable one. They unofficially take home the team spirit award for their intoxicating energy.
59 collegiate club teams, with over 1100 swimmers and divers, participated in the largest collegiate swim & dive event in the country. With varsity swimming and diving programs being eliminated across the country, student run club teams gives athletes an opportunity to compete at the highest level, and represent their university.
For more information regarding the East Coast Collegiate Swimming & Diving Club National Championships, please visit gtswimclub.com/ecc.php or follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/ECCNationals) or Twitter (NOPE/ECCNationals)
Final Team Standings:
Overall Top 5
Colorado – 2004
Florida – 1582
Missouri – 963
Penn State – 826
Connecticut – 716
Men Top 5
Colorado – 931
Florida – 883
Missouri – 522
Penn State – 443
NC State – 410
Women Top 5
Colorado – 1073
Florida – 699
Missouri – 441
Connecticut – 426
Penn State – 383
Swimming Live Results: http://www.ramblinwreck.com/livestats/c-swim/
Diving Live Results: https://secure.meetcontrol.com/divemeets/system/index.php#