• Preliminary Results
• Final Results

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (March 9) – Junior Melissa Gates (Leola, Pa./Conestoga Valley) became the first NCAA individual champion in California University of Pennsylvania swimming history on Wednesday evening when she won the 50 freestyle on the first day of the NCAA Division II Championships at the Palo Alto Natatorium.

Gates placed first in the preliminaries of the 50 freestyle during the morning session and then repeated the first-place performance in the finals to capture the first national title in school history. She swam a school-record time 23.02 seconds in the prelims before resetting the record with an astounding mark of 22.72 seconds in the finals.

The 5-9 junior not only shattered her previous school record, but also established a new Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) mark with her National Championship winning time. Gates previously set the Cal U record this season at 23.26 seconds, while West Chester's 22-time All-American Jackie Borkowski posted the league mark at last year's NCAA Championships at 22.87 seconds.

Gates repeated as an All-American in the 50 freestyle, giving her four All-America finishes in her career. She is the fifth individual National Champion in Cal U history and the first since Ken Hackman won a national title in wrestling at 190-lbs. in 1989. Gates and Jenise Lockhart (track & field, 1985) are the only two female individual National Champions in school history.

Also on Wednesday, the 200 medley relay of sophomore Kasey Travitz (Millersburg, Pa./Millersburg), Gates, freshman Jess Machmer (Canton, Pa./Canton) and freshman Clarissa Enslin (Dalview, South Africa/St. Andrews School for Girls) were disqualified during the preliminaries because of an early take-off.

Cal U returns to action tomorrow, Thursday, March 10, when it competes in the 200 freestyle relay and 200 freestyle.

For complete information about the NCAA Championships, please click here.

CAL U INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2011 - Melissa Gates (50 Freestyle)

CAL U INDIVIDUAL ALL-AMERICANS
2003 - Sandra Buehler (500, 1000, 1650 Freestyle)
2005 - Petra Zavadilova (100, 200 Butterfly)
2008 - Ester Bosch (100, 200 Freestyle)
2009 - Ester Bosch (200, 500 Freestyle)
2009 - Marianne Juhl (1650 Freestyle)
2010 - Melissa Gates (50 Freestyle)
2011 - Melissa Gates (50 Freestyle)