Athletics

Mering Second Whitman Swimmer to Earn All-American at Nationals

March 21, 2013

SHENANDOAH, Tex. -- Sophomore Karl Mering (Boise, ID) became the second Whitman swimmer to claim All-American honors at this year's NCAA National Championships being held this week in Shenandoah, Texas at the Conroe ISD Natatorium.


Karl Mering, So.

Mering finished 8th in tonight's 100 butterfly finals with a time of 48.70. By qualifying for the championship final, Mering automatically received All-American honors for the first time in his collegiate career; he received Honorable Mention at last year's NCAA's.  In the morning preliminaries, Mering swam a 48.67 -- the 6th fastest time of the morning -- putting him in the finals. The two times were a shade slower than his meet qualifying time of 48.59 which was the third fastest finish leading up the nationals.

Wyatt Ubellacker of MIT won tonight's final, setting a new NCAA record, clocking in at 47.41. The competition for 2nd place was very tight, as no swimmer broke the 48-second mark and a mere margin of .47 seconds separated 2nd from 8th.


Karl and Coach Jenn at NCAA's

Whitman Coach Jenn Blomme said after the race," We are so proud of Karl. It's so awesome to make the top 8 and be an All-American."

Mering joins teammate Galen Sollom-Brotherton (Dublin, CA) who earned All-American honors last night when he placed 2nd in the 500 freestyle.

Mering will be in the pool again tomorrow morning for the 200 fly preliminaries as will fellow Whittie Claire Collins (Burlingame, CA) as she swims the 100 breaststroke -- the race in which she qualified for the NCAA meet with the year's 11th best time. Sollom-Brotherton has the day off before competing in the 1650 free on Saturday.

For complete meet results visit http://collegeswimming.us/results/21478/

For live video coverage: http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2013/03/20

You can also follow assistant coach Chris Bendix on Twitter @WhitmanSwimming and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/whitmancollegeswimming

The remaining preliminary schedule for the Whitman swimmers is below. The morning preliminaries begin at 10 am Central Time, and the evening finals at 6 pm Central Time.

Friday Preliminaries

Collins -- 100 Breast

Mering -- 200 Fly

 

Saturday Preliminaries

Mering -- 100 Free

Collins -- 200 Breast

Sollom-Brotherton -- 1650 Free

 

Contact:

Andrew Holt

Whitman Sports Information Director

holtac@whitman.edu

509.527.5902