University of Tennessee Athletics
SENIOR SWIMMER MONICA SHANNAHAN SELECTED FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
March 11, 2002 | Women's Swimming & Diving
March 11, 2002
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
Senior University of Tennessee swimmer Monica Shannahan has earned a spot in the field for the 2002 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships as announced by the NCAA Office. Shannahan will compete in three events over the three-day meet scheduled for March 21-23 at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin.
Shannahan earned the NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 200y butterfly with her clocking of 1:59.83. Once she was entered into the meet in that event, the San Diego native was also allowed to compete in a pair of other races in which she earned NCAA provisional times. In addition to the 200y butterfly, she will take to the pool in the 200y individual medley and the 200y breaststroke.
"We are really excited about Monica Shannahan earning a spot in the NCAA Championships," Tennessee head coach Dan Colella said. "This year she has one more goal to fulfill in her collegiate career, and we will go to Austin and do our best to accomplish that."
The only missing piece in Shannahan's extensive collection of collegiate awards is a trip to the championship final at the NCAA meet in order to get a shot at an NCAA title. She qualified for NCAAs as a freshman and sophomore and earned All-America honors in her first year by taking 14th in both the 200y butterfly and as a member of the 400y medley relay squad.
While Shannahan secured her bid for the NCAA meet, senior Valerie Conte came close to making the field, but her NCAA 'B' cut times were not quite strong enough. The Bensenville, Ill., native had strong times in the 100y and 200y backstroke as well as the 200y IM, but her times were not quite enough to crack the field for her first NCAA Championships.
"It is somewhat disappointing that Valerie Conte did not make the meet," Colella said. "It has been her goal for four years, but she had an absolutely tremendous senior season. I am really proud of what she accomplished."
Now the Lady Vols will have to wait to see how many of their divers make it to the NCAA Championships. The Tennessee diving squad will compete in the NCAA Zone B Championships on March 15-16 in Lexington, Ky., to earn one of 13 spots in the NCAA field from the zone. All four Lady Vol divers have earned the scores required to compete at the zone meet.
