Women finish 18th, Simek wins two All-Americans

Seven women swimmers were part of the recruiting class four years ago that assisted the women's team in winning a national championship. Each of those swimmers had at least one national appearance in their career that included three top five team finishes at nationals.

When that class entered the women were perennial national championship contenders. Four years later, the women's swimming program has entered a new era.

The women finished 18th at the national meet last week with 61 points in San Antonio, Calif., after a fifth-place finish in 2010. Drury University repeated as both women's and men's champions.

Sophomore Jerod Simek earned five points and two All-Americans for a 30th place team finish as the lone representative for the men's team.

The finishes come at the end of a tumultuous season in which former head coach Mark Gole resigned in December for personal reasons and the team's annual winter training trip was canceled. Interim head coach Jennifer Godlewski was hired three weeks later.

"With the coaching change that happened, and me not knowing the swimmers very well, and me trying to adapt my coaching style to something that I'm not used to, I thought we did OK," Godlewski said. "Getting into the meet is going to be different. Our strategy for our approach for getting back to the top is going to be different, and so there's a lot of work that needs to get done."

The women earned three individual All-Americans, highlighted by two fourth-place finishes: senior Anna Grinter in the 200-yard butterfly and freshman Casey Jepsen in the 200-yard freestyle. Jepsen improved 12 spots compared to her pre-race seed.

Jepsen said she has improved on her 200-yard freestyle throughout the season, but she still is surprised to finish fourth.

"I'm still kind of in shock about it to be honest," she said.

Every Truman swimmer earned at least one All-American — it is thought to have been the first time ever. Also, senior Stephanie Myers earned the first top-eight of her career, in the 800-yard freestyle relay.

However, the team declined in almost all other areas — in large part because of the team qualified half the swimmers of last year. In an effort to reduce the size of the meet, the NCAA made A cuts significantly more difficult this year and swimmers with only B cuts went to nationals on invitation-only basis.  

Grinter and Simek were the lone Bulldogs to earn A cuts during the regular season. Seven returning swimmers who made the meet in 2010 did not qualify this year.

The comparative lack of swimmers especially hurt the relays, as Truman did not compete in the 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard medley relay. Godlewski said the team did not find out it could swim in the 200-yard freestyle until right before nationals and therefore was not prepared, and it did not have its fastest medley swimmers for the 400.

Godlewski said the difference in the relays with only having six swimmers at the meet was "absolutely tremendous."

The team finished eighth in the 400-yard freestyle relay, 15th in the 200-yard medley relay and 17th in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The medley relay finish was a surprise, as Truman took advantage of four disqualifications from schools with faster times.

Although the relays accounted for half of the team's points, it was the first time since at least 1997 that the women did not score in at least three relays.  

"Basically, we need relays," Godlewski said. "Bottom line, we need relays. We need sprinters and we need everything we can to get relays into the meet."

On the men's side, Simek earned All-Americans with a 14th in the 1,000-yard freestyle and a 15th in the 1,650-yard freestyle. He had two more top-21 finishes in other events.

Simek has five career individual All-Americans after earning three top-16s in 2010 when he earned a team finish of 23.

"I was glad I scored, but I didn't perform as well as I thought I was going to," Simek said. "But that was a combination of taper and the year that we've had, and all that kind of stuff."

Heading into the offseason, both swimming programs are in flux as the interim contracts for Godlewski and assistant coach Danielle Odenthal expire at the end of April.

Godlewski said she has applied for the job, and if accepted she would keep Odenthal as a coach. Head coaches are hired by the administration before choosing their assistants.

"I do want to be here, and I think I've bonded well with the kids," Godlewski said.

Athletic Director Jerry Wollmering said he hopes the coaching search will be finished by the end of April.