Seven members of the St. Thomas swim and dive team came home from the NCAA Division-III Championships in Shenandoah, Texas, with All-America honors. Junior Mike Lanz and sophomore Emma Paulson each earned First-Team All-America honors in two events, while five other swimmers earned Honorable Mention recognition.
Senior Mariann Kukielka swam the butterfly leg of the 200-medley relay Wednesday, marking her last ever appearance as a Tommie. The relay placed 12th with a time of 1:44.84, the best a women’s Tommie relay has placed at nationals in the last five years. Also swimming were Paulson, senior Emily Punyko and sophomore Courtney Grunewald.
“It’s definitely a mixture of sadness for sure,” Kukielka said of her last St. Thomas meet. “It’s such an awesome thing that’s coming to an end, but it’s also a good thing because every chapter in life needs to end at some point.”
Three women’s relay teams competed, with the best finish scoring 10 points in the 200-medley relay. The 200-free relay placed 16th for one team point with Paulson, Punyko and freshmen Alix Glassbrenner and Tiana Molitor. All six swimmers on those two relay teams earned Honorable Mention All-America honors for their top-16 finishes. The 400-medley relay was disqualified due to a mistake in the exchange.
“I was very proud of them for going after it and not holding back,” coach Scott Blanchard said. “Because those are the kinds of things you really need to do … I gave them all about five or 10 minutes to kind of be upset, and then I said, ‘It’s time to move on; we’ve got more swims to go.’”
The women scored 61 team points and finished 15th, a huge improvement from last year when the women’s team placed 31st with 15 points.
Lanz, the lone male St. Thomas swimmer at the national meet, scored 37 points and finished 25th.
Lanz swam the 200 fly in 1:45.76, beating his own school record by nearly four seconds and placed third in the event, scoring 16 team points. He also swam the 100 fly, where he also placed third with a time of 47.88, making him a First-Team All-American in both events.
In individual women’s races, Paulson had her best finish in the 100 backstroke. She placed third and broke her own St. Thomas school record with a time of 54.86 – her first of three First-Team All-America finishes. Paulson placed fifth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.29 and placed fourth in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:57.51. Punyko placed 13th in the 100 breaststroke to become an Honorable Mention All-American, clocking in at 1:03.92.
Grunewald said the best part of the meet was the support from teammates.
“If you’re having a low moment, there’s someone there to snap you out of it and … make you realize how lucky you are to be part of this national team and to represent St. Thomas,” she said.
Kenyon College (Ohio) was the men’s team champion, and Emory University (Georgia) won the women’s title.
Elena Neuzil can be reached at neuz3833@stthomas.edu.