Hotchko, Heyde Headed to NCAA Championships
St. Mary’s City, Md. – The official psych sheet for the 2010 NCAA Division III Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships was released earlier this week and St. Mary’s College of Maryland will have two representatives at this year’s championships in senior Rachel Hotchko (Yakima, Wash./A.C. Davis) and first-year Kelly Heyde (Wilton, Conn./Wilton). This marks the fifth year in a row that the Seahawks will be competing at the NCAA championships.
This year’s championships will be hosted by Beloit College and The College of Wooster at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis on March 17-20.
This will be Hotchko’s third consecutive
trip to the NCAAs and she will be competing in the 100 butterfly,
the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. She enters the
championships seeded 10th in the 100 fly with a school record and
NCAA provisional time of 56.63 set in her gold-medal finish at the
Capital Athletic Conference Championships on February 13.
Hotchko currently holds five SMCM records (four
relays, one individual).
Last season, Hotchko registered her career-best finish at the NCAA championships as she placed 23rd in the 100 fly in 57.81.
The 2010 CAC Women’s Swimming Rookie of the Year,
Heyde hopes to put the finishing touches on a
phenomenal rookie season as she will be competing in the 200
butterfly, 400 individual medley and the 200 individual
medley. She enters next week’s action seeded eighth in
the 400 IM (4:28.39) and 16th in the 200 fly (2:05.57).
Heyde’s time in the 400 IM was an NCAA automatic qualifying cut as well as a school record as Heyde recorded the effort at the Franklin & Marshall College Invitational. While at the F&M Invitational, she also notched a school record and NCAA provisional time in the 200 fly, just missing an “A” cut by .01.
The Seahawks will depart for Minneapolis this coming Monday to prepare for the first day of competition on March 17.
