It wasn't easy for the women's swimming and diving team to turn heads at the NCAA championships.

It had to compete for attention with Olympians, and battle for the spotlight as athletes shattered American records.

But somehow, by the end of the grueling three-day competition, the Nittany Lions made other programs take notice.

Penn State, which failed to score in last year's championship meet, scored 100 points and placed 11th at the meet, which was held at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in Long Island. Previously, the program's best finish had been a 22nd place showing in 1993.

"Going into the meet I felt that if we cold be in the top 20, I'd be pleased, and if we cold be in the top 15 I'd be ecstatic," women's swimming coach Bill Dorenkott said. "We surpassed our expectations. This really legitimizes what we're doing here, and what we're trying to get accomplished."

Of the seven swimmers and one diver that qualified, five earned All-American honors by qualifying for finals, and three were named honorable mention All- American by making consolation finals.

In other words, each athlete placed in the top 16 in at least one event.

"Aside from the Olympics every four years, this is the fastest meet in the world year in and year out," Dorenkott said. "To be selected to be in this meet, then to go there and compete at such a high level, is quite an accomplishment."

Individually, freshmen Kristen Woodring and Corrie Clark continued to shine in their debut season. Woodring had the highest Penn State finish, taking third in the 100 breast and also tenth in the 200 breast.

Clark finished sixth in the 100 butterfly, 8th in the 200 breaststroke, and 12th in 200 individual medley.

"Overall I'm happy with meet and how it went," Clark said. "You always want more, you can always do better. I learned a lot. From that standpoint, I couldn't have asked for better meet."

Along with Clark and Woodring, senior Katie Anderson was 15th in the 200 fly and 11th in the 500 free. Senior Jaime Jaax was 15th in the three-meter diving competition.

In addition, the 200 free relay (Clark, Piper Chamberlin, Katie Hostetler, Megan Smith) and 400 free relay (Anderson, Clark, Chamberlin, Hostetler) teams finished 16th.

The 200 medley relay team (Hostetler, Smith, Woodring, Chamberlin) finished in 7th place, and the 400 medley relay team (Katie Bruzda, Clark, Woodring, Chamberlin) came in 12th.

According to Dorenkott, the meet's format, and especially the relay events, made for a tiring weekend. While relays consist of only finals at conference championship meets, the NCAA competition holds preliminaries for the events as well.

"If you look at a person like Corrie Clark, she competed 14 times in three days," Dorenkott said. "To be able to do that and do it well, you have to have put in the hard work last spring, last summer and last fall."

This year-round training, which the team implemented for the first time this season, helped the Lions stand up against some of the top programs and finest athletes in the country.

"This result was not accomplished in the past three days," Dorenkott said. "You have to look at last spring, last summer, and last fall. That's where we got it done."

In the team competition, Georgia won its third straight national championship, scoring 389 points to edge Stanford by just a point and a half.

However, it was California's Natalie Coughlin who picked up swimmer of the year honors. Coughlin won the 100 back, 200 back, and 100 fly, setting NCAA records in all three and American and U.S. open marks in the 100 and 200 back.

She was also a part of the Bears' 200 and 400 medley relay teams that set American records.

"It was just amazing to watch the other events," Woodring said. "I've never seen that much fast swimming in one meet."