March 30, 2002

ATHENS, Ga. - Kellan O'Connor (Phoenix, Ariz./Brophy Prep) and Tony Swanson (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) both earned their second All-America honors as the 2002 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships came to a close Saturday night.

O'Connor was the highest-placing Wildcat of the weekend, taking eighth in the finals of the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:44.58. He finished seventh in the preliminaries of that event with a better time of 1:44.48. The junior's top-eight finish made him a first-team All-American. O'Connor earned second-team honors for his 13th-place finish in the 100 fly Friday.

Swanson, who took 10th in the 200 IM on Thursday, finished 12th in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:43.46. He qualified for the finals with a 1:43.59, 11th-place finish in the preliminaries.

Teammate Mark Hamming (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) also competed in the 200 fly and finished 23rd in the preliminaries with a time of 1:46.85. The four NU qualifiers, which included senior Adam Kennedy (Flossmoor, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor), competed in the 400 freestyle relay and finished 19th with a time of 3:02.06.

The Wildcats finished 19th in the team standings with 39 points, the best NCAA finish for the squad in head coach Bob Groseth's 13 seasons at NU.