Sophomore Fabian Schwingenschlogl grabbed All-America honors for the second-straight year after finishing sixth in the 100-meter breaststroke finals of the NCAA championships last Friday in Iowa City, Iowa.  

He finished with a time of 51.66 to garner the All-America nod in the 100 breast, besting his time of 52.25 from last year’s NCAA’s where he placed eighth. 

Schwingenschlogl, who was named male swimmer of the meet at last month’s Conference USA championships for the second consecutive year (after grabbing three individual titles and guiding the Hilltoppers to their second-straight C-USA title), was the only sophomore in the championship heat in Iowa City. The rest of the competitors in the final heat were of senior class ranking.    

The All-America nod on Friday did not bring the Germany native’s season to a close.  Schwingenschlogl competed the following day in the 200-meter breaststroke.  

He went on to earn honorable mention All-America honors with a 12th place showing in the 200 breast. 

His clocking of 1:53.25 was a new WKU record in the event, and marked the only swimmer in WKU history to be a three-time All-American honoree. 

Schwingenschlogl’s All-America honors last year were the first of any WKU swimmer since Olympic gold medalist Claire Donahue earned the nod in 2011 with a second place finishing in the 100-meter butterfly.  Later that year, she won gold in the 2011 Pan American Games in the same event and would go on to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. 

“There is no substitute for experience in meets like this… We always say the NCAA meet, top to bottom, ends up being the fastest meet in the world, and I do think that is true. You don’t just have the USA swimmers, but a lot of international swimmers from all different universities coming in,” Head Coach Bruce Marchionda said in a press release. “Even when you go to some of the international competitions, each country can only take two participants. This is just unbelievable fast.”