March 20, 1999

In the final day of competition at the 1999 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships held at the University of Georgia's Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, March 20, Villanova University freshman swimmer Maddy Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa./ Germantown Academy) finished third in the 200 yard breaststroke with a time of 2:11.66, after beginning the day as the No. 17 seed in that event. In the 200 yard breaststroke preliminaries, Crippen placed third with a time of 2:12.06 to advance to Saturday night's finals. With her third place championship finals finish, she earned All-America honors in the 200 breaststroke.

In the NCAA's first day of competition on Thursday, March 18, Crippen finished fifth in the 500 yard freestyle (4:44.41) garnering All-America distinction. Seeded first in the 400 yard individual medley on Friday, March 19, she became only the second Villanova female swimmer ever to win a National Championship. Lisa Flood, a 1994 Villanova graduate, became the school's first NCAA Champion by winning the 200 yard breaststroke in 1992.

Crippen's time of 4:06.76 in the finals of the 400 yard individual medley (and 4:10.01 in the event's preliminaries) broke the pool record of 4:13.47 set by LSU's Lucy Findlay in 1997. She earned All-America accolades in the 400 yard individual medley as well, giving her All-America status in all three of her NCAA events.

Crippen was a two-time high school National Champion in the 400 yard individual medley for Germantown Academy. In her first Big East Championship appearance at the collegiate level on February 25-27, she won a Big East title in the 400 yard individual medley, 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.

Other Wildcat swimmers competing in Saturday's events were senior Elizabeth Lauwaert (Burke, Va./ Paul VI High School) and sophomores Kate Volz (Fort Myers, Fla./ Cypress Lake High School), and Katie Armitage (North Haven, Conn./ North Haven High School). Lauwaert finished in 30th place in the 100 yard freestyle preliminaries, with a time of 50.45. In the 1,650 freestyle finals, Volz placed 25th with a time of 16:54.99 and Armitage placed 27th in 17:00.77.