The five members of the women's swimming and diving team achieved their goals and then some at the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis this weekend.

With only sophomore Fran McDermid having NCAA experience, the 800-yard freestyle relay team, of McDermid, Heather Nicholson, Janet Worobel and Christy Rourke, finished 13th with a time of 7:27.66. The Lady Lions received eight points from their relay team and two points from diver Lara vonSellen, who finished 15th on the 3-meter board with a score of 426.75.

Stanford, led by Janet Evans, won the 800 freestyle relay in 7:09.48. But it was Texas which won the national championship. The Lady Longhorns finished with 746 points; the Cardinal came in second with 653 points, and Florida finished third with 353 points.

Because of its placement, the relay team garnered honorable mention All-America honors. The inexperienced team swam like a team that has been to NCAAs before.

"It was real hard competition, but we're pleased with our performance," Nicholson said.

"I was excited for the kids," Coach Bob Krimmel added. "They'll all be back next year and have the experience to be successful."

The most inexperienced of the foursome was Worobel, a freshman. In somewhat of a surprise move, Krimmel had Worobel swim the last leg of the relay. But she surprised everybody by swimming the fastest 200 yards on the team.

"That's what we hoped she would do and she did it," Krimmel said. "She has to feel pretty good about herself."

Worobel added, "It was really exciting, because I saw so many famous people. It was just great to be a part of that."

Seeing swimmers like Olympic star Evans is enough to make anyone nervous. But, it also made the swimmers a little more psyched to swim.

"It was amazing. I was in awe of how fast everyone else swam," Nicholson said. "I was a lot more nervous than I think I've ever been in my entire life."

"We were really psyched up. We all had fun, because we went down there thinking we had nothing to lose," Worobel added.

A big lift for the team came from vonSeelen. The 3-meter competition took place before the relay, and by placing 15th, the team was given some inspiration.

"It was a big boost," Krimmel said. "When she was successful, that got everybody excited."

Michigan State's Julie Farrell-Overhouse won the event with 576.80 points. SMU's Krista Wilson won the 1-meter and finished second on the 3-meter with a score of 575.45.

The Lady Lions have four of the five representitives coming back next season. With the experience they received in Indianapolis, Krimmel can see an 11th consecutive appearance at NCAAs next year.

"They know they belong with these people," Krimmel said. "Once you're part of the NCAAs, you want to go back again."