St. Cloud State
NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships
Three Huskies earn All-America honors at national championships
3/20/2021 10:28:00 PM | Men's Swim & Dive, Women's Swim & Dive
| Results |
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. - The St. Cloud State University swim and dive team closed its superb, if not slightly unconventional, 2020-21 season in the best place possible: at the NCAA Championships. Seven St. Cloud State swimmers and divers made the trip to Birmingham, Alabama to compete in the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving National Championships this past weekend. Of those seven, the Huskies saw three student-athletes earn All-America honors at the NCAA Championships over the course of the week, including Madison Brinkman (Grey Eagle, Minn. / Melrose), Alyssa Doherty (Cudhay, Wis. / Whitnall) and Ref Hendricks (Berg en Terblijt, Netherlands / Stella Maris College).
Brinkman and Doherty put together a superb trip to Alabama, as they qualified for finals in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving competitions. The duo earned points towards the team's overall team score on the 1-meter board thanks to their top-16 finishes in the event. Brinkman was the highest finisher from St. Cloud State, as she took 11th behind a score of 394.45. Doherty was just a few places behind her teammate, as she finished 15th in the vent with a score of 386.30.
The best was yet to come for the two seniors, though, as both finished top-8 in the 3-meter competition to earn their second All-America honor of the weekend. In prelims, Brinkman qualified in finals for fourth place thanks to her impressive score of 443.10. Like on the 1-meter board, Doherty was not too far behind, as she joined Brinkman in Friday evening's final thanks to her score of 440.20.
In the end, the two seniors were able to take home some hardware. Brinkman led the entire field entering the final dive of the competition and ended up finishing second with a score of 485.50 to earn All-America honors. Doherty was not far behind, as she finished eighth, also earning All-America honors with a score of 421.50.
Hendricks impressed in his first trip to the NCAA Championships, finishing top-16 in two of the three races he competed in. As a freshman, Hendricks took 14th in the 200 yard freestyle, clocking a time of 1:38.19. He competed in the 100 yard backstroke the very next day, clocking a time of 49.43 in prelims.
The freshman, like his teammates, saved his best performance for the final day of competition. After earning points in the 200 yard freestyle, Hendricks earned his second of the weekend in the 200 backstroke, as he qualified for finals with a time of 1:45.49, the fifth fastest in the nation. In finals, Hendricks finished seventh with a time of 1:45.99, earning his first top-8 finish on the weekend and second All-America honor.
Abe Townley (White Bear Lake, Minn. / White Bear Lake) also competed for the Huskies at the national championships over the weekend, having qualified for the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 19.66. The sophomore finished 21st in the race, clocking a time of 20.08 in the prelims to just miss qualifying as an alternative for the top-16.
In total, five divers made the trip to Alabama including Brinkman, Doherty, Meredith Matchinsky (St. Cloud, Minn. / Tech), Annaliesa Anderson (West Bend, Wis.) and Taylor Terfher (Cold Springs, Minn.). Matchinsky, Anderson and Terfher all made their debuts at the national meet, while Brinkman and Doherty made their fourth and third appearances respectively.
As a team, St. Cloud State finished with a combined 51 points at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Hendricks earned all 15 points towards the men's overall team score, while Brinkman and Doherty combined to score 36 points for the women's overall team score.
Players Mentioned
