March 18, 1999

At day one of the 1999 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships held at the University of Georgia's Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga., on Thursday, March 19, Villanova University freshman swimmer Maddy Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa./ Germantown Academy) finished in fifth place in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 4:44.41. With her finish, Crippen earned All-America honors in the 500 yard freestyle.

Seeded fifth in the 500 yard freestyle entering the NCAA Championships, Crippen finished in that same position in both the preliminaries held earlier in the day, and in the event finals which took place Thursday night. Winning the national title in the 500 yard freestyle with a pool record time of 4:40.22 was Southern California's Lindsay Benko, who was the No. 3 seed entering the day's event.

Other Villanova swimmers competing in Thursday's events included senior Elizabeth Lauwaert (Burke, Va./ Paul VI High School) in the 50 yard freestyle and sophomore Kate Volz (Ft. Myers, Fla./ Cypress Lake High School) in the 500 yard freestyle. Lauwaert placed 35th in the 50 yard freestyle preliminary competition with a time of 23.33. Volz finished 49th in the preliminaries of the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:01.93.

On Friday, March 19, Crippen will swim as the No. 1 seed in the 400 yard individual medley, with preliminaries beginning at 11:00 a.m., and finals beginning at 7:00 p.m. As prep star for Germantown Academy, Crippen twice won high school national titles in the 400 yard individual medley. This season on Feb. 25-27, she won a Big East Championship in that event, setting a new conference record with a time of 4:11.86. For her accomplishments, she was named the Big East's Most Outstanding Female Swimmer. Crippen will swim in her final event, the 200 yard breaststroke, on Saturday, March 20.

In Friday's competition, Wildcat sophomore Katie Armitage (North Haven, Conn./ North Haven High School) will swim in her first event, joining Crippen in the 400 yard individual medley. Lauwaert will compete again for Villanova as well, swimming in the 100 yard butterfly event.