Kelly VanGorden '02

March 5, 2002

GENEVA, N.Y. – With her New York State Women’s Collegiate Athletic Association winning 100-yard breaststroke time of 1:06.67 on Feb. 22, William Smith senior Kelly VanGorden (Palmyra-Macedon/Geneva, N.Y.) qualified for her fourth consecutive NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

VanGorden will be the No. 10 seed at the Championships on March 15. She will also swim in the 50 freestyle on March 14, and the 200 breaststroke on March 16.

Last March, at the NCAA Championships in Buffalo, VanGorden set a William Smith record with a time of 1:06.22 in the preliminaries of the 100 breaststroke to qualify for the finals. She finished seventh to capture her first All-American award. The following day she broke her own 200 breaststroke record in the preliminaries with a time of 2:28.01 to qualify for the consolation finals. In the consolation finals she lowered that mark with a time of 2:26.35 to earn her second All-American award in as many days.

At the 2000 NCAA Championships at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., VanGorden was 29th in the 100 breaststroke, 24th in the 100 butterfly, and 49th in the 200 individual medley. As a first-year at the 1999 NCAA Championships in Oxford, Ohio, she represented the Herons in the 200 IM, 100 butterfly, and 100 backstroke, setting the William Smith record in the 200 IM (2:12.92).

VanGorden swam four NCAA “B” cut times this season. She is currently the Heron record holder in the 50 breaststroke, 100 breaststroke, the 200 breaststroke, the 100 IM, and the 200 IM.

The 2002 Division III NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships will be hosted by the College of Wooster in Oxford, Ohio, from March 14-16.

Back to William Smith Swimming and Diving