March 28, 2010

Complete Results | Complete Results

MADISON, Wis. -- In the end, Daniel Lester’s first trip to the NCAA championships served as a return for the Wisconsin men’s swimming and diving team.

The freshman wrapped up the 2010 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships with a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly Sunday, earning All-America honors at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio,

In the process, Lester put the Badgers back on the podium at the national meet for the first time in five years. His top-eight finish made Lester the first UW swimmer to earn All-America accolades since Adam Mania and Tim Liebhold in 2005.

He also became just the third Badger to earn All-America honors in the 200 fly, and the first since Brad Horner finished fifth at the 1976 NCAA Championships.

“I’m so proud of Dan for what he’s been able to accomplish in the short time he’s been training with us,” head coach Eric Hansen said. “To be an All-American is always a major achievement just because of how deep the talent is at the NCAA championships.

“To do it as a freshman is a fantastic achievement.”

After swimming a time of 1:43.18 in the morning preliminaries to improve on his own second-fastest mark in school history, Lester clocked in at 1:43.48 in the finals.

He was third 50 yards into the race but slipped back to seventh at the halfway point, and that’s where he would finish to secure his All-America standing. Florida’s Shaune Fraser won the national title in a pool-record time of 1:41.45.

It was the second outstanding performance for Lester in the 200 fly since joining the Badgers in January. Last month, the Brisbane, Australia, native scored all-conference honors with a runner-up finish in the event at the Big Ten championships.

Lester’s performance Sunday earned the Badgers 12 team points. That placed Wisconsin 30th in the final rundown, as Texas claimed the team championship with 500 points. California (469.5 points) was second, followed by Arizona (387) in third, Stanford (369) in fourth and Florida (364) in fifth.