For the second consecutive season, the Case Western Reserve University women's swimming and diving team placed at the NCAA Championships, finishing 26th in the country with five members of the squad qualifying for the competition.
The Spartans, led at the national meet by sophomore diver Abigail Wilkov, improved their national finish by five places over their finish in 2022. Wilkov earned her second and third career All-America honors with a pair of top-10 finishes at the national championship. In the 1-meter dive, she placed seventh with a score of 402.65 points in the final, becoming the first CWRU student-athlete of any gender to earn All-America honors in the event and the first CWRU diver to earn multiple First Team All-America honors. Two days prior, in the 3-meter dive, Wilkov placed 10th with a score of 414.10 points in the consolation final, earning All-America honorable mention. She earned 19 points for Case Western Reserve in the team standings with the two finishes.
To punch her ticket to the national championship, Wilkov earned a pair of top-four finishes at the NCAA Regional Zone Meet. She was the runner-up in the 3-meter dive, placing second with a score of 429.35 points, and placed fourth in the 1-meter dive with a score of 391.05 points. Sophomore diver Jocelyn Schechter placed eighth in the 3-meter dive and 23rd in the 1-meter dive at the regional meet.
Sophomore swimmers Gabriella Chambers and Angeli Paull and first-year swimmers Eliza Dixon and Claire Kozma also earned selection to the national championship to compete in four relays. The quartet finished 18th in the 200 Free Relay, 20th in the 400 Free Relay, 21st in the 800 Free Relay, and 30th in the 200 Medley Relay. At the University Athletic Association Championships earlier in the season, the four swimmers set a school record in the 400 Free Relay with a time of 3:28.67. It was one of three CWRU records that were set during the season.
In the 200 Free Relay, Kozma, Dixon, Chambers, and first-year swimmer Kate Menzer tied the school record of 1:34.95 at the conference championship, and, in the 800 Free Relay, Paull, Chambers, and senior swimmers Abby Halsdorfer and Maria Pritchett set a new program best with a time of 7:37.06. All three record setting relays earned NCAA B cut times.
The Spartans placed sixth at the UAA Championships, held on the campus of Emory in Atlanta, finishing with 794 points. Kozma placed fourth in the 50 Free with a finals time of 23.73 seconds, the best individual finish by a Spartan at the meet. The school record-setting 200 Free Relay also took fourth place, with the 200 Medley Relay of Dixon, Kozma, and sophomore swimmers Erica Rice and Caroline Schlessman, the 400 Medley Relay of Rice, Schlessman, Menzer, Chambers, and the record-setting 800 Free Relay placing fifth among UAA teams. Wilkov added a pair of top-eight finishes, placing fifth in the 1-meter dive and eighth in the 3-meter dive.
Prior to the NCAA Championships, the Spartans placed first at the Midwest Invitational at the University of Chicago. First-year Megha Siddapureddy won the 200 Fly with a time of 2:10.96, and Halsdorfer (200 IM) and Menzer (400 IM) added runner-up finishes in their events.
CWRU finished the season with a dual record of 4-2 and was ranked 19th at the end of the season by the CSCAA.
In the classroom, Pritchett was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Third Team, the second Spartan ever to receive the honor. In addition to Pritchett, Halsdorfer, Paull, and Wilkov received CSC Academic All-District honors, and 29 members of the team were recognized as UAA All-Academic honorees.
The Spartans earned the following honors during the 2022-23 swimming and diving season:
All-America |
Abigail Wilkov |
1-meter dive (seventh) |
First Team |
3-meter dive (10th) |
Second Team |
The following were the top times/marks for the Spartans during the 2022-23 season:
50 Free |
Claire Kozma |
23.67 |
Midwest Invitational |
100 Free |
Claire Kozma |
51.74 |
UAA Championships |
200 Free |
Abby Halsdorfer |
1:52.86 |
UAA Championships |
500 Free |
Abby Halsdorfer |
5:06.11 |
Magnus Cup Invite |
1000 Free |
Abby Halsdorfer |
10:39.90 |
UAA Championships |
1650 Free |
Abby Halsdorfer |
17:44.60 |
UAA Championships |
100 Back |
Erica Rice |
57.52 |
UAA Championships |
200 Back |
Amelia Myhrvold |
2:04.74 |
UAA Championships |
100 Breast |
Kate Menzer |
1:07.08 |
Midwest Invite |
200 Breast |
Erica Rice |
2:25.01 |
Magnus Cup Invite |
100 Fly |
Claire Kozma |
56.65 |
UAA Championships |
200 Fly |
Kate Menzer |
2:10.04 |
Magnus Cup Invite |
200 IM |
Maria Pritchett |
2:08.58 |
Magnus Cup Invite |
400 IM |
Maria Pritchett |
4:32.35 |
UAA Championships |
1-Meter Dive (11 dives) |
Abigail Wilkov |
426.45 |
UAA Championships |
3-Meter Dive (11 dives) |
Abigail Wilkov |
429.35 |
NCAA Regional |
200 Free Relay |
Claire Kozma, Eliza Dixon, Kate Menzer, Gabriella Chambers |
1:34.95 *SR |
UAA Championships |
400 Free Relay |
Claire Kozma, Angeli Paull, Eliza Dixon, Gabriella Chambers |
3:28.67 *SR |
UAA Championships |
800 Free Relay |
Abby Halsdorfer, Angeli Paull, Maria Pritchett, Gabriella Chambers |
7:37.06 *SR |
UAA Championships |
200 Medley Relay |
Erica Rice, Caroline Schlessman, Eliza Dixon, Claire Kozma |
1:46.52 |
UAA Championships |
400 Medley Relay |
Erica Rice, Caroline Schlessman, Kate Menzer, Gabriella Chambers |
3:53.50 |
UAA Championships |
*SR indicates school record