Freshman Jessie Bardin’s time of 1:50.92 in the 200 Freestyle was good enough to win a national title last week at the NCAA Championships in Buffalo, N.Y.
Bardin, whose previous best time in the event was 1:51.53, won the 16th individual swimming title in UT women’s history.
“The experience was unbelievable,” said Bardin. “I was nervous going into my first race, the 200 free, but confident that I had worked hard all year and could handle the competition.”
In the 500 Freestyle event, Bardin placed fourth, just over five seconds behind first place. She also competed in the 800 meter Freestyle relay event, placing seventh.
The St. Petersburg native captured a national title in her first year at Tampa. It is a unique experience for a newcomer to be crowned as the best swimmer in all of Division II.
“It has not really sunk in yet,” said Bardin on being the best. “It’s nice to know that all the hard work, all the pain and all the tears have finally paid off.”
The UT women’s team finished 12th overall, with no other individual national titles. The men finished 19th and captured no individual titles.
Both teams train hard, often practicing before classes start for the day and then coming back in the early afternoon.
After the semester, the work continues for the swimmers.
“Over the summer, I will train back home [in St. Pete], but I have a couple weeks off to mentally and physically recover,” said Bardin.
The Sunshine State Conference has been little competition for Tampa swimming.
In the championship meet, the Tampa women scored 995.5 points. Rollins finished in second place with 650.5 points. In contrast, Eckerd finished last with 22 points.
The men fared even better, finishing with 997.5 points, easily ahead of Rollins with 562.5 points.
“We have competed against some good Division I teams this season,” said Bardin. “Even though, with the SSC, we were swimming against the clock in order to go for lifetime bests or get NCAA cuts.”