For the third consecutive year, the women’s swimming and diving team was able to record a strong third place finish in the Sun Belt Conference Championships.
With 369 points, Denver was able to beat North Texas, UL-Monroe and Arkansas-Little Rock, but New Mexico State and Western Kentucky ultimately reigned with 578.5 points and 441.5 points, respectively.
Sophomore Katie Eisenhard took second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.65 and sixth in the 100-yard backstroke with 1:01.51. Denver has never won a relay at conference championships, but this year the relay team of Eisenhard, freshmen Holly Leigh, Lauren Miranda and Michaela Amereller won the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:40.80, which beat the old school record by nearly 10 seconds.
The standout performer was Michaela Amereller, who hails from Munich, Germany. She was not only named the Sun Belt Conference’s Swimmer of the Year, but also won all three of her events and set two conference records.
Amereller swam well through the fall invitational meets, but came into her own when the Pioneers returned from the SBC Dual Meet Invitational on Oct. 25-26. Since then, Amereller has won 12 of her 20 events and generally dominated in the water.
Amereller’s regular season highlights include winning the 200-yard backstroke with a season-best time of 2:10.34 against the Colorado School of Mines Nov. 8th and pulling off a win in her first ever 1000-yard freesyle with a time of 11:04.06, which came against Colorado College and the Metropolitan State College of Denver on Jan. 25.
“Michaela was a guiding light for us this season,” said Head Coach Jim Bain.
Amereller helped the team from the start of the meet. She set both school and conference records with times of 5:01.12 in the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday and 1:50.69 in the 200-yard freestyle on Friday. To top it off, her time in the 200-yard freestyle made her eligible for the National Collegiate Athletic Association Championship B-Team.
Amereller did not qualify for the A-Team, which would automatically qualify her for nationals.
“People were so fast this year,” said Amereller. “Hopefully I’ll be able to do it next year. I’d like to swim the NCAAs.”
“I didn’t think I’d get (the award), I was skeptical. All of us did really well, I am so glad we came in third, and I think most of us reached our season best times.”
