Aemisegger adds to legend

Swimmer Alicia Aemisegger is just a freshman, and at her first NCAA national championship, she was all alone. But being the only Princeton swimmer in attendance didn't stop her from earning three All-American honors, nearly claiming a national championship and singlehandedly tallying 35 of Princeton's 36 points to launch the Tigers to 24th place overall.

"The meet is so team-oriented. It was hard to see all the teams interacting," Aemisegger said. "Competing alone was the hardest thing about going to NCAA. No other swimmers were with me. Still, I had so much support from my teammates. Though they were unable to come to the meet, I received many phone calls and emails from them."

Amid the sea of Stanford Cardinals, Auburn Tigers and Arizona Wildcats, Aemisegger was one of two athletes individually representing the Princeton swimming and diving team. Senior diver Michelle DeMond and Aemisegger traveled to Minnesota this past weekend to compete at the 2007 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, and both returned as All-Americans.

Both DeMond and Aemisegger were competing at the NCAA Championships for the first time. DeMond had suffered injuries and sickness in the past, which prevented her from competing previously. Aemisegger qualified for the championships during her first season, an honor in itself, but she did more than just show up for the meet.

"I was really nervous because I hadn't tapered for a short course meet in a long time. This is my first big meet representing Princeton, and I just wanted to make it to finals in my events," Aemisegger said. "However, it was a lot of fun and much more intense than a regular meet."

Aemisegger began the meet with high marks Thursday by far outperforming her seed time, placing third in the 500 free at four minutes, 38.88 seconds. She was less than two seconds off the winning time. Her third-place time broke her own Princeton record from the preliminaries, and the event wasn't even her main focus.

A day later in the 400 individual medley, Aemisegger topped the pool record with a phenomenal 4:04.80, but freshman Ava Ohlgren of Auburn just out-touched her, claiming the title in 4:04.08. Aemisegger had entered the event with the fastest seed time from the preliminaries, and her second-place win in the event singlehandedly vaulted Princeton to 16th place in team standings at the time.

"I was nervous about my 400 IM because it's my main event," Aemisegger said. "I wanted to not only prove to myself that I can swim my best, but also to other coaches that though I am not at a top swimming university, I can still swim."

During Sunday's event, DeMond did her part to show Princeton can represent itself on the national level, claiming All-American honors by qualifying for the consolation final in platform diving and placing 16th overall. She also placed 34th in 3-meter diving. Aemisegger also claimed her third All-America honor Sunday, placing 15th in the 200 breast.

"The meet and the competition were intense. I knew all the girls from USS swimming and have been swimming against them since I was 15," Aemisegger said. "The meet is totally different; you had to make best times in the morning to make it back."

The different challenge did not seem to pose problems for Aemisegger. Her performance with DeMond this weekend is arguably the best NCAA performance in the history of Princeton women's swimming. The Tigers will lose DeMond to graduation, but Aemisegger will continue to train with hopes to perform even better next year, while also focusing on an even more intense meet: the Olympic Trials.