Last week when Coach Bob Krimmel and a trio of Lady Lion swimmers left for the NCAA Championships, the coach said he had "no clue what to expect." Now that the championships are over, that statement is more correct than before.

For the Lady Lions, some things remained the same -- Deni Rudy named an Academic All-American for the third consecutive year and Regan Stacey finished ninth in the 1,650-yard freestyle event for the second year in a row. However, the unexpected occurred as well when freshman Julie Krail earned honorable mention All-America status in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events -- a Penn State first.

Stacey and Rudy also received honorable mention All-American status over the three-day event. Stacey's time of 16:32.41 in the 1,650 free earned her the honor and Rudy's season best time of 50:49 in the 100 free earned her 13th place and honorable mention status.

For Rudy, the Academic All-America status didn't come as a surprise. She knew she had the required GPA of 3.5-or-above and that she would compete at the NCAAs. Rudy thought she would swim as part of a relay team at Indianapolis, but only competed in individual events.

"Well, they both came as a shock to me," Rudy said of receiving the chance to compete in the 50 and 100 freestyle events. "I looked at the times and didn't feel I would make it. I told myself I wouldn't make it. I was so excited."

Krail's first trip to the NCAAs was quite eventful. Krail's mother and sister surprised her by coming to watch her finish 13th in the 200 breaststroke and 14th in the 100 breaststroke.

"I'm really happy with the experience," the Hatfield native said. "I was there for Big Tens and everything fell into place. I have achieved some things I never, ever, dreamed about. It makes me think about the future and that I can work harder and achieve more."

Stacey, the Big Ten Champion in the 1,650 free, again finished 26th in the 500 freestyle and 34th in the 200 free and was invited to the national distance camp.

"I was a little disappointed, I would have loved to do better," the junior said. "I went in with a positive attitude and for some reason everything fell into place. I did the best I could, but I didn't do as well as at Big Tens."

Because all three swimmers will be back next year, Krimmel has every reason to be excited. And only one swimmer from the relay teams will graduate, meaning that next year's team could have one or more relay teams at the NCAAs.

"I'm real pleased with the job the kids did," he said. "It got better each day. We tied Wisconsin for 30th place and if we had our relay teams here, we would have finished in the top 20."