March 19, 2010

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Navy's Tara Chapmon (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) finished in 23rd place in the trial heats of the 200 freestyle event Friday at the NCAA Swimming Championship in West Lafayette, Ind.

Chapmon had a great first half of the race as her 100-yard split time of 51.36 ranked 10th overall out of the 66 competitors in the field. However, she was unable to hold that pace over the last half of the race and finished with an overall time of 1:46.50. That clocking ranks third in Navy history in the event and was within a few tenths of a second of her school and league-record time of 1:46.17. Chapmon established that standard last month in winning the event at the Patriot League Championship.

"Tara competed in one of the fastest heats, so she went out as she needed to in order to keep pace with the leaders," said Navy head coach John Morrison. "She was right there with them for the majority of her heat. It was a great race by her. I think she would have liked to have placed higher, but it is hard to be disappointed with a time that nearly matched her school record."

A time of 1:45.64 was needed to advance into tonight's consolation final of the 200 free, while a clocking of 1:45.14 was required to compete in the championship final of the event.

Chapmon and teammate Thuy-Mi Dinh (Sr., Anaheim, Calif.) will close out both the NCAA Championship and their Navy swimming careers Saturday when the duo competes in the 100 freestyle event.