March 21, 2009

COURAGE WINS NCAA TITLE IN 100 FREE!

MINNEAPOLIS -- Grove City College senior swimmer Caleb Courage (Shippensburg, Pa./Shippensburg) won the NCAA Division III title in the 100 freestyle Saturday night at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, hosted by Macalester College at the University of Minnesota. It is Courage's third career title in that event.

Courage posted a victorious time of 43.62 seconds in the championship heat. In the preliminaries, Courage established a new Division III record in the 100 free with a time of 43.60.  The previous record of 43.65 was set in 1985 by Kenyon's Jim Born and was the oldest record on the books.

Courage won the 100 free national title as a sophomore in 2006. In 2007, he successfully defended his NCAA crown in the 100 freestyle. Courage spent the 2007-08 academic year in training for the United States Olympic Trials before returning to Grove City for his senior season this year.

Courage has now accumulated a College-record 17 NCAA All-America citations in his career.

Courage, senior Tim Whitbeck (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown), senior Peter Larsen (Federal Way, Wash./Tacoma Baptist) and freshman Kirk Gagliardo (Wadsworth, Ill./Warren Township) will compete in the championship finals of the 400 free relay later Saturday night. That quartet is the No. 2 seed in the finals with a preliminary time of 2:59.66.

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