March 22, 2003

Complete Results

AUBURN, Al - The University of Maryland women's swimming team finished competition at the 2003 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in 22nd place with 40 points, the best finish by a Maryland team in school history. Five Terrapin swimmers earned All-America or honorable mention All-America honors at the three-day meet.

Leading the Terps at the national championships was Shandra Johnson (Omaha, Neb.), whose fourth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle on Friday earned the senior her 10th All-America honor. Johnson, who transferred from Nebraska, won the previous nine as a Husker. She became the first Terp female swimmer since 1989 to garner an All-America award. Johnson's fourth-place time in the 200-free, 1:45.91, was also a new school record.

Johnson broke another school record with her performance today in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.55, good for 11th place and honorable mention All-America in the event.

Johnson swam her first event of the meet, the 500-yard freestyle, on Thursday. She finished 12th with a time of 4:45.20, also an honorable mention All-America performance. Johnson is easily one of the most successful Maryland swimmers in history, having three stellar swims to lead Maryland to their historical finish.

Senior Jill Martin (Orlando, Fla.) also had the most successful national championship of her career, earning honorable mention All-America in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke. She broke her own school record in the 100-breast, finishing 15th with a time of 1:01.87 on Friday. Today, she finished 13th in the 200-breast with a time of 2:13.33. Her 13th-place finish was the best of Martin's career as a Terp.

Sophomore Elizabeth Lavell (Annapolis, Md.), the Terrapins' top performer at the NCAA's in 2002, earned All-America honors in the first event of the day. Her time of 16:24.59 in the 1650-yard freestyle earned her 13th-place. In the first two days of competition, Lavell finished 24th in the 500-yard freestyle (4:48.17) and 49th in the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.51).

Johnson and Lavell joined sophomore Megan Knepper (Williamsport, Md.) and freshman Inbal Levavi (Ichud, Israel) in the 800-yard freestyle relay on Friday. The team set a new school record with their time of 7:19.63, finished the event in 15th place and were named honorable mention All-America for their performance.

Knepper swam both backstroke events at the meet for the Terrapins. She broke the school record in the 100-yard backstroke when she swam the lead off of the 400-yard medley relay with her time of 54.80. In the individual event, she earned 27th place in the 100-back (55.37). She was 38th in the 200-yard backstroke (2:01.65).

Levavi and Krisztina Kovacs (Budapest, Hungary) were the only two freshman competing for the Terrapins in Auburn. Kovacs swam both breaststroke events, finished 22nd in the 200 (2:15.61) and 27th in the 100 (1:03.25).

Levavi swam three events. Her highest finish was 25th in the 200-IM (2:01.99), and she also finished 31st in the 400-IM (4:21.70) and 35th in the 200-back (2:00.77).

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