By: Jake Renie, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications
INDIANAPOLIS – Coming off a day of rest and an All-American performance in the women's 100 fly,
Callie West geared up for her final event at the 2022 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships on Saturday morning.
Having already gone two-for-two on personal best times for West at the national championships, only the women's 100 free was left from what would be a perfect weekend of racing. The freshman previously swam the 50 free and 100 fly, which can be detailed further down the recap of the previous days.
Seeded 39th overall in the event coming into the NCAA Championships, the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Women's Swimmer of the Year stepped up on the blocks & finished as the 18th fastest competitor in the event for Division III, breaking her own Centre record by dropping a quarter of a second on a final time of :51.32. The time drop came from the second 50-yards of West's race, coming home around three-tenths of a second faster than her previous best time in the event. Having already had a phenomenal weekend prior to the race, the freshman commented how her goal for Saturday was to just hang loose and have fun.
As the NCAA Championships conclude, so does the 2021-2022 swimming & diving season. Between the two teams, the Centre Colonels were able to record 37 All-SAA honors, claim eight SAA titles, earn six NCAA B-cut qualifying standards and one NCAA DIII All-American to add to the history books.
DAY TWO (Thursday)
After achieving a personal-best time in the 50 free on the first day of the 2022 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships on Wednesday,
Callie West followed it up by earning a national honor on day two of the championships Thursday night.
"This is my 18th national championship," stated head coach
Dean Brownley. "When you get to this meet, there's a lot of variables. Everything we preach is team, family, and she [
Callie West] has been able to change gears completely to an individual focus. All we tried to do was to stick to the game plan we set on day one, and today was icing on the cake.
Coming into the meet as the No. 21-seed in the women's 100 fly, the Lexington, Ky., native competed in that event on Thursday morning, the one that originally qualified her to participate in the big dance. For the prelims session the freshman dropped time again at the national championships, breaking her own Colonel record with a :55.59 time, five one-hundredths faster than her race at the Southern Athletic Association Championships last month. That drop would be just enough to hurdle her seven spots at the end of the event, finishing 14th overall and qualifying for the consolation final in the event later that night.
Running on adrenaline and feeling the intensity of the IUPUI Natatorium, West performed nearly an identical time at the finals session to what she did in the morning prelim session, touching the wall on a final :55.71 swim. The consistent time boded well for the freshman, earning her a spot as an NCAA All-American Honorable Mention in the event by catapulting to 11th overall.
"I feel like I've exceeded all expectations so far that I had for myself," West said. "I didn't practice an extra four weeks with my coaches, my teammates who came in to train with me for nothing. I just wanted to do it for them more than anything."
West will represent the Colonels in one more event at the NCAA Championships, the freshman stepping up on the blocks for the women's 100 free on Saturday. Saturday's prelim session will kick off at 10 a.m., the finals session starting at 6 p.m. For live results, click
here or search "NCAA DIII Championships" on Meet Mobile via the iOS, Android or whatever platform the app is available to you.
DAY ONE (Wednesday)
After breaking three conference records and qualifying in three events for the 2022 NCAA DII Swimming & Diving Championships,
Callie West competed in her first event of the championships on Wednesday afternoon.
The Lexington, Ky., native stepped onto the blocks for her first event in the women's 50 free, seeded 34th overall in the race with a :23.62 entry time. Her entry time came from the recent Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Championships last month, where she finished as the conference champion. West's performance on Wednesday was a step above the previous time from Birmingham, dropping a :23.52 time at NCAA's with a tenth of a second drop. The freshman just missed out on top-16 placing that could have earned an invite to finals session later tonight by nine one-hundredths of a second. West would total out at 23rd overall in the event.
West will have two more chances to earn a top-16 placing at the 2022 NCAA DIII Swimming & Diving Championships, the next being Thursday morning for the women's 100 fly. That event featured the freshman's highest seed time coming into the meet at 21st overall on a :55.64 time. The fastest women's 100 flyer in Centre history dive into the pool for event 15 after the men's and women's 200 free relay, 400 IM and men's 100 fly conclude during the prelim session. Prelims will kick off at 10 a.m. in the IUPUI Natatorium.
