Meyer, Wanland selected for U.S. national team
September 01, 2009 | Women's Swimming & Diving
After outstanding performances in national competition over the summer, a pair of University of Wisconsin swimmers have the honor of being named to the U.S. national team for the 2009-10 competition season, USA Swimming has announced.
Junior athid=6650&deptid=194"> --> Maggie Meyer , of North Oaks, Minn., and sophomore athid=7386&deptid=194"> --> Ashley Wanland , of Long Grove, Ill., have both earned spots on the prestigious national team roster thanks to their performances at the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships in July and the U.S. Open in August.
Meyer is one of six swimmers selected for the team in the women's 200-meter backstroke, while Wanland is among the six named to the team in the women's 200-meter breaststroke.
Meyer and Wanland become the 11th and 12th UW swimmers to be named to a national team, and the first women since Carly Piper competed for the U.S. at the 2006 FINA World Championships.
'I couldn't be more proud of Maggie and Ashley,' UW head coach staffid=145"> --> Eric Hansen said. 'They have both put countless hours into their training and worked extremely hard to put themselves in a position to be successful at the national level both during our collegiate season and over the summer.'
Swimmers were selected for the USA Swimming National Team based upon their times in Olympic events contested in 2009 at the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships, the U.S. Open, World University Games and FINA World Championships. Swimmers with the top six times in each event make the national team, with a total of 110 named to the men 's and women's squads.
'To be named to the U.S. national team is truly one of the highest honors a swimmer can receive,' said Hansen, who has served as head coach for the U.S. four times in international competition. 'When you look at the success of the U.S. team in international competition, you can see that it takes an outstanding swimmer to make the national team roster.'
Meyer owns a personal-best time of 2:09.53 in the 200 back, which she recorded while winning the event by more than a second at the U.S. Open in August. Meyer also scored a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter backstroke at the U.S. Open.
Earlier in the summer, Meyer finished fourth in the 200 back at the U.S. championships, clocking in at 2:10.08, and narrowly missed a spot on the national team for the FINA World Championships.
Impressively, she also was 11th in the 100 backstroke, 16th in the 100-meter freestyle and finished 17th in the 50-meter free at the national championships.
Wanland finished second in the 200 breast at the U.S. Open, finishing in a personal-best 2:24.29. She also was fourth in the 100-meter breaststroke.
Her performance in the 200 breast came on the heels of a third-place finish in the event at the U.S. championships in July. Wanland finished in 2:25.90 in that race, missing a spot on the U.S. team for the World Championships by one position.
Wanland also finished sixth in the 100 breast at the national championships.
Both Meyer and Wanland entered the summer coming off outstanding collegiate seasons.
Wanland earned All-America honors three times at the NCAA championships in March ' the most ever by a Wisconsin freshman ' and also picked up an honorable mention All-America citation, as well. She was third individually in the 100-yard breaststroke and helped the Badgers to a runner-up finish in the 200-yard medley relay.
In all, she set three Big Ten Conference records over the course of the season, won conference titles in the 200 breast and 200 medley relay, and claimed the league's Freshman of the Year award.
Meyer also was part of the Badgers' Big Ten champion and NCAA runner-up 200 medley relay teams and earned three All-America awards of her own in 2008-09. In her first two seasons at UW, Meyer has claimed All-America or honorable mention All-America honors seven times.
