Author: Tim O’Donnell
Two’s a coincidence; three’s a trend.
That’s why the Occidental swimming and diving program proved to the Division-III nation that qualifying three athletes for the NCAA National Championships in Indianapolis — swimmers Steven van Deventer (junior) and Caroline Chang (senior) and diver Jessica Robson (senior) — was no fluke.
By the competition’s end, van Deventer had claimed his second straight national title in the 200-yard breaststroke and all three had earned All-American recognition — Chang for the fourth time in the 200-yard breaststroke and Robson for the first time on her signature 3-meter board.
On the final day of the event, van Deventer took to the pool to defend his 2013 title in the 200-yard breaststroke. He hovered in the middle of the pack for the first 100 yards, hitting the first wall in fourth place. But his patience set up a late surge that propelled van Deventer past the rest of the field into first place.
He finished with a time of 1:58.21 minutes, breaking his own SCIAC record from last season’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships and finishing just .42 seconds shy of the Division III all-time record, set by Whitworth’s Rory Buck in 2011.
“Winning back-to-back titles is huge, especially at this meet, this year, when we watched so many defending champions fail to defend their titles,” Occidental head coach Shea Manning said.
van Deventer also had a successful showing in the 100-yard breaststroke finals the previous day.
He broke the SCIAC record twice, once in the prelims at 55.11 seconds and again when he posted a time of 54.96 seconds in the final heat. His finals mark was good for a sixth-place finish.
Chang, swimming at her fourth National Championship meet, picked up her third Honorable Mention All-American award in the process. In the 200-yard breaststroke consolation finals, Chang fought her way to a 15th-place finish, recording a time of 2:20.55 minutes. Chang did not advance to the finals in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in 22nd place at 1:05.30 minutes.
“My times weren’t necessarily where I wanted them to be,” Chang said. “But just being at nationals for the fourth year in a row was an incredible experience.”
Unlike Nationals veterans van Deventer and Chang, Robson competed on Division-III’s biggest stage for the first time in her prestigious career at Occidental – a career that includes winning seven out of eight possible SCIAC titles.
Early in the competition, she finished 24th at the 1-meter diving prelims and did not qualify for the finals. But Robson’s 14th-place finish on the 3-meter board ensured that she would not leave Indianapolis empty-handed.
“Jessica could not have performed better,” Manning said. “She had a rough go on the 1-meter, so it could have been easy for her to roll over and go out quietly. She put together the best 11-dive meet I’ve ever seen out of her and finally reached that goal of an Honorable Mention All-American.”
van Deventer led the men’s side to a 23rd-place finish overall and the women came in 43rd on the shoulders of Chang and Robson.
According to Manning, Chang finished her career as one of the most successful women in program history. Chang spoke with pride about representing Occidental on the national stage for the final time.
“Being a senior is almost surreal; it hasn’t even kicked in yet,” Chang said. “To be able to put Oxy’s name on the map for four years is more than I could have asked for during my athletic career here.”
Chang and Robson have now closed the books on their respective careers, as the pair will graduate this spring. Both will leave behind legacies that should withstand the test of time.
As for van Deventer, the junior will have one more go at a national title. The 6-foot-3 inch leader has already set his sights on next season and is setting the bar high.
“Before the race, I honestly was wondering if maybe last year I had the perfect race,” van Deventer said. “But I followed the race strategy [Manning] and I worked on, and it paid off. My motivation now focuses on the national record. I was .42 off the record, and I want to be able to shatter that next season.”
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
