18 March 2002
CONTACT: Stew Salowitz, 309-556-3206
 

Titans Earn Highest Team Finish Ever
IWU's Carroll Sets School Records at National Meet

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Illinois Wesleyan senior Kathy Carroll earned honorable mention All-America status in three individual events and was involved in setting six school records at the NCAA Division III women's swimming championships, held last weekend in Oxford, Ohio.

Carroll (Orland Park, Sandburg HS) helped IWU to its best-ever team finish in the national meet as the Titans garnered 30 points, good for 27th place out of 63 teams. The previous best was in 2001 when Carroll, IWU's only competitior, amassed 15 points, good for 36th place.

This past weekend, Carroll placed 12th in the 500 freestyle with a school-record time of 5:03.57, placed 13th in the 1,650-meter freestyle with a school-record time of 17:28.17, and was 14th in the 400-meter individual medley with a time of 4:35.83.
Her preliminary time of 4:34.29 in the 400 IM is a school record as is her time of 1:01.43 in the 100 backstroke, which she swam leading off the 400 medley relay.
Carroll also swam to a school-record time in the 1000 freestyle with a split time of 10:36.33.

Persons finishing in the top eight in the national meet earn All-America honors while places nine through 16 receive honorable mention All-America.

The 400 medley relay team, consisting of Carroll, Heather Lingenfelter (Peoria, Richwoods HS), Erin Bicek (Downers Grove, North HS) and Molly Hornbaker (Princeton HS), took 16th in a school record time of 4:02.98.
The 400 free relay team of Lingenfelter, Hornbaker, Bicek and Carroll took 13th with a time of 3:34.80.
The Titans' 200 freestyle relay team of Carroll, Lingenfelter, Bicek and Hornbaker was 15th in 1:39.06 and the 800 free relay team, which placed 15th in 7:53.29, consisted of Carroll, Lingenfelter, Hornbaker and Katie Wenzel (Palatine, Fremd HS).

In other individual results, Lingenfelter was 32nd in the 100 butterfly (1:00.50) and Bicek finished 28th in the 400 individual medley with a personal-best time of 4:41.87. Bicek was also 30th in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:27.74.

In 2001, Carroll earned the highest finish ever for an IWU women's swimmer at the Division III championships when she finished eighth in the 400 individual medley, earning All-American status. She was 14th in the 500 free and 16th in the 1,650 free, both earning her honorable mention All-American.
Carroll is a three-time "Most Outstanding Performer" in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin meet. In the 2000 NCAA meet, Carroll was 11th in the 1650 free, 13th in the 400 IM and 12th in the 500 free. As a freshman in the 1999 national championships, Carroll finished 14th in the 400 IM, was 16th in the 500 free and 19th in the 1650 free.