COLUMBIA, Mo. --
The University of South Dakota women's swimming and diving team had two All-American performances and finished 10th in the team standings as the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships concluded on Saturday at Columbia, Mo.
The Coyote women's team finished in the top-10 for the third straight year. The Coyotes were eighth two years ago and ninth in 2007. Jill Smolczyk (Sr., Omaha, Neb.) was named the NCAA Division II Women's Diver of the Year after winning a national title in 1-meter diving and finishing second in 3-meter diving. She is the first Coyote in school history to earn the honor.
The Coyote women's team finished 10th with 178.5 points, which is the highest total in school history. Truman State edged Drury, Mo.), 461.5 to 449 for the team title. The rest of the top 10 included North Dakota, 324; UC-San Diego, 302; Nebraska-Omaha, 242; Wayne State (Mich.), 206; West Chester, 202; Clarion, 190; Ouachita Baptist, 185 and South Dakota, 178.5.
On Saturday, Leita Rolfe (Sr., Newcastle, Wyo.) and Megan Gordon (Sr., Grand Rapids, Minn.) had All American performances.
Gordon earned her second individual All-American honor and ninth of her career at the championships by finishing seventh
in the 200 backstroke. She broke her own school record in the event by clocking a time of 2:04.37 (Gordon, 2006, 2:04.40).
Rolfe earned her seventh career All-American honor with an eighth-place finish in the 200 breaststroke with a finals clocking of 2:21.90. However, Rolfe broke her third individual school record of the meet by recording a 2:20.19 in the prelims (old record Tara Magnuson, 2:21.49, 1996).
In four days at nationals, the Coyote women's swimming and diving team broke 11 school records and had 10 All-American performances.
Also on Saturday, the USD 400 freestyle relay broke a school record and earned honorable mention All-American honors with a 13th-place finish in 3:32.53 (old record 3:33.25, 2003, Kopecky, Connolly, Donley, Burke). The team included Gordon, Rolfe, Erin Wagoner (Jr., Newcastle, Wyo.) and Stacy Bjorlie (Jr., Austin, Minn.).
