Breaking records was demonstrated this past weekend in Seattle, where junior swimmer Blake Worsley and junior diver Aaron Feight put Denver on the national map.
Worsley, the Sun Belt Conference Male Swimmer of the Year, finished in 10th place in the men’s 500 freestyle at the NCAA championships last Thursday and became the first All-American for DU since they returned to Division 1 in 1998.
The Steamboat Springs native started off the day with a school record time of 4:19.68, good for 16th place in the preliminaries. Later in the evening Worsley bested the record with 4:17.89 in the consolation final and earned an honorable mention All-American.
“I just couldn’t be more excited for Blake’s swim tonight, to become an All-American shows his tremendous dedication to swimming and to DU,” said Head Coach Brian Schrader.
On Friday Worsley continued to set records as he finished in 23rd place in the 200-meter freestyle with a personal and school record time of 1:36.09. Worsley entered the race ranked in the 50s in the nation and was able to finish in top-25.
Worsley capped off competition on Saturday with a 41st place finish in the 100-meter freestyle event with a time of 44.18.
In the diving competition, Feight started off on Thursday with a 19th place finish in the men’s 1-meter event.
Then on Friday Feight finished off the weekend with a splash as he won the consolation final of the men’s 3-meter dive to finish in ninth place overall with a score of 364.2 and became DU’s second All-American of the Championships.
“I couldn’t be happier for him. He truly deserves everything. He was a treat to watch this week,” said Schrader.
The weekend before senior swimmer Kelsey Totura and freshman Grace Kittle competed in the preliminaries at the women’s NCAA championships in Columbus, Ohio.
Totura made her second career appearance at the NCAA championships and turned in a 25th place in the 200-backstroke with a time of 1:57.49 and a 39th place finish in the 100-backstroke with a mark of 55.42.
Kittle swam a 2:13.23 in the 200-breastroke good for a 17th place finish and just missed out on qualifying for the finals. Kittle also finished 35th in the 100-breastroke with a time of 1:03.07. Kittle’s 17th place finish is the highest in school history for a female swimmer at the NCAA Championships.
Totura finishes her career as one of DU’s all-time most decorated swimmers. Totura was twice named Sun Belt Conference Female Swimmer of the Year, holds Denver’s and the SBC record times in the 100-and 200-meter backstroke events, along with a school record in the 100meter freestyle and was a part of all five record-holding relay teams. Totura will compete in the U.S. Olympic trials later this year for a chance to swim in the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing.
“She helped define how we want Denver to be represented, with a great work ethic, tough racing and being a solid student and person,” said Schrader about Totura.
