It took the whole team to get to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, not just the three athletes, senior Maria Mayrovich, and sophomores Iuliia Kuzhil and Erin Mertz. The coaches, the trainers and the nutritionists all played their parts in getting the two swimmers and one All-American diver to this point.

“It’s not just one individual out here by herself competing towards her goal,” diving coach Eric Elliott said. “This was about the program and all we’ve worked towards to make it here.”

Mertz’s seventh-place performance on the 1-meter board made her the first All-American diver from the University in 13 years. For divers, the All-American title is given to the top eight in each diving competition. In her first appearance at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, Mertz finished in the top 20 in all three diving events.

“To me, the (All-American) thing is just a title,” Mertz said. “I was just super excited to be here and compete against girls at this level.”

Mertz finished on the 1-meter board with a score of 298.40 points. She finished 17th in the 3-meter and the platform diving competitions. Elliott said Mertz was mentally tough and was able to dive consistently throughout the competition. He said he hoped Mertz’s and the other athletes’ performances this season would help with recruiting for next season.

“Hopefully Erin will build from this experience,” Elliott said. “I think she realized that she has what it takes to come out here and beat these good divers at this level of competition.”

Kansas’ two swimmers also made impressive performances at the NCAA Championships. Mayrovich swam in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyles and finished 20th, 19th and 21st respectively. On the 200-yard freestyle Mayrovich swam 1:46:19 — beating her seed time of 1:47:22.

“I had a lifetime best on the 200 and I can’t really ask for more,” Mayrovich said.

Mayrovich said this tournament gave her a chance to see what she needs to improve on and was a great competition experience. Mayrovich said she and Kuzhil planned to use their experience as a boost for the team and wanted to inspire them to compete even harder next season.

Kuzhil only swam in one race, the 100-yard backstroke. She finished 21st with a time of 53.06 seconds, beating her seed of 34th with a time of 53.45 seconds. Kuzhil said that this was a hard race for her because it was early in the morning but she said that she was pleased with her finish.

“I did everything I could in my race and I beat my seed time so I was happy,” Kuzhil said.

Coach Clark Campbell said he was also pleased with all of the results from this meet. Campbell said both Kuzhil and Mayrovich finished with, or better than, their seed times.

“This one of our best NCAA’s in quite a while,” Campbell said. “Iuliia and Maria both still have a long ways to go in their potential and I’m looking forward to watching them in the future.”

— — Edited by Jesse Trimble