COLUMBUS, OHIO – The University of the Incarnate Word synchronized swim team finished in fourth place at the U.S. Collegiate National Championship this past weekend at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion at Ohio State University.

Coming in fourth place overall, UIW ended this year better than their past two seasons in which they finished in fifth. The Cardinals trailed this year's champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes, 93.0 to 64.0.  Overall, their were 16 teams and 138 swimmers competing at the national championship event.

"I thought the team had a great showing in all categories," said UIW head coach Megan Deatherage.  "They have worked hard all season to be ready for this competition and they all stepped up and had their best performance at a meet this season.  We had a better overall placement from last year and I know we will only continue to improve our standings."

In the trio event, the Incarnate Word team of Beatriz Regly, Sarah Cooke, and Katy Wiita finished seventh with 80.3 points. In the duet finals, two UIW duet groups placed in fifth and sixth.  Sydney Sprinkle and Wiita finished fifth with a score of 82.533, while Regly and Cooke trailed 81.5 points.

The Cardinals finished with two athletes in the top five in the solo finals. Sprinkle finished in an impressive third place as she was only 6.9667 points behind the leader with a score of 81.8.  Emilee Wills was on her heels with 80.6667 points.

UIW had several top contenders in the Figures results. Yet, the most impressive was freshman Kathleen Sundin who dominated and won the C category figures. In the Figure A results, Wiita finalized in 11^th place out of 39. In the B Figures, Madison Craney broke the top ten in eighth place out of 32.

Incarnate Word not only finished in the top five teams in the nation, but made an impression this season with its strong finish.  Junior Katy Wiita and senior Sydney Sprinkle both received USA Synchro All-American honors.

Seven total UIW swimmers took home USA Synchro Academic All-American awards: Brooke Taylor, Katy Wiita, Madison Delgado, Sarah Cooke, Emilee Wills, Beatriz Regly and Helena Fedorenko.
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