ELKHART, Indiana – In their inaugural year, the women's swim team finished 17^th in the nation. A team of 3 freshmen picked up All-American honors on their way to a top 20 finish for the program.
 
"From where we were a year ago to where we ended Saturday night was the culmination of a lot of hard work from top to bottom," said Head Coach Robert Gonzalez. "I'm really proud of what we were able to assemble in our inaugural season. We demonstrated improvement, competed at the highest level, and showed the country we are ready to do this."
 
After a quiet first couple of days, day three of the NAIA National Championship is where Eszter Kardos and Grace Funck started putting their name up on the board. Kardos earned All-American honors as she finished 6^th in the 100-yard Breaststroke. Kardos, clocking in at 1:04.63, finished only 0.43 seconds off 4^th, and less than 3 seconds off last year's National Champion Stella Warborn in 3^rd.
 
Funck added the second All-American finish of the day for the women. There was little to choose from between 2^nd and 8^th as 1.69 seconds separated the seven swimmers. Funck earned 7^th place in the 100-yard Backstroke with a time of 57.75, only 0.99 seconds off 3^rd and 1.49 seconds off 2^nd.
 
4^th and final day and Kardos picked up her second All-American Honors. Kardos earned a top 5 finish in the 200-yard Breaststroke as she clocked in at a time of 2:20.60. Kardos narrowly missed out on a bronze medal by a little over four seconds.
 
Eva Mangiaracina was the other Lady Crusader to compete at the NAIA National Championship. Mangiaracina competed in the prelims for the 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard Backstroke, and the 100-yard Butterfly. Although Mangiaracina was unable to qualify for the finals of the events, she did set personal bests in the 100- & 200-yard Backstoke.
 
With a team of only three freshmen, the Lady Crusaders still managed a top 20 finish as they finished 17^th in the nation. There is an exciting future in store for this young and promising program.
 
"I'm proud of our swimmers for their hard work and commitment to our program in taking that leap of faith with me to be a part of a team that we started from scratch," said Gonzalez. "It wasn't perfect, but it definitely wasn't bad. To leave with several All-American performances is something the large majority of schools would love to have. I look forward to the future."