The Asbury swim team competed at the NAIA National Swim Meet on March 4-8 in Knoxville, Tennessee. This year Asbury brought one of their largest team of swimmers to Nationals, and they did not disappoint.
The meet featured four days of competition, with individual and relay races. The initial days involved mostly qualifying and preliminary competitions, and the finals days consisted of championship and final competitions.
On their first day in Knoxville, Asbury opened the meet with the 800 free relay. At the end of the day, the men’s and women’s teams were both ranked 10th, which accumulated a total of 14 points for each team.
Day two of the National meet saw several notable moments. Junior Hannah Springer placed fifth overall in the 200 IM with a time of 2:08.45. She set a new school record with this time, earned NAIA All-American Honors, and recorded her highest individual finish at the national level with this swim. At the end of the day, the women had moved up to ninth place overall and the men were sitting in 13th place.
“I’m pleased with how we competed today,” said Head Coach Alex Keyser. “Hannah Springer did an outstanding job in the 200 IM. … I’m so proud of her. Hannah had a torn labrum in her hip and had surgery in December 2018, ending her season. She has recovered so well and is having the best season in her career.”
The Asbury swim team had even more success on day three of the national meet. Sophomore Alex Wu was the runner-up in the 100m Butterfly, earning him NAIA All-American status. As for the women’s team, the 200 Medley Relay team of Springer, sophomore Kayla Hubbuch, junior Rosie Gary and junior Hope Clark placed eighth overall. Additionally, Springer broke another school record in the 100m Breaststroke with a time of 1:05.78, placing seventh overall.
In the final day of competition in Knoxville, the Asbury swim team finished on a strong note in the Allan Jones Aquatic Center. Wu clinched another NAIA All-American title by finishing as the runner up in the 200m Butterfly with a time of 1:49.33. Freshman Haden Hebenstreit also notably created a new Asbury school record with a time of 1:51.00 in the 200 Backstroke, helping him to finish fourth overall. For her third time during the National meet, Springer broke another record on the final day with a time of 2:22.86 in the 200m Breaststroke, helping her to finish sixth in the race.
At the end of four days of intense competition, the women’s swim team finished ninth overall, and the men’s team finished 10th.
