Bahamas native Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace became the first Auburn woman to win individual titles in both the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle and the first ever swimmer from the Bahamas to win an NCAA individual title.
The junior swimmer wasted no time diving into the record books as she helped guide Auburn's swimming and diving team to an eighth place finish at the 2011 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas.
"She was really focused," said head coach Brett Hawke. "You could tell she was zeroing in. She had her game face on. She hit the starts beautifully, and I just knew after that it was game over. Huge win for us. It was the first time in school history we ever won that."
The University of California at Berkeley won the meet overall with 424 points, followed by the University of Georiga, University of Southern California, Stanford, and Arizona to round out the top five.
Texas, Florida, Auburn, Minnesota and Texas A&M closed out the top 10.
"It was a tough meet," Hawke said. "Top to bottom, there was some tough competition. I can't say enough about our senior class.
"They have given this program so much over the years, and I can't express the gratitude we as a staff feel for their efforts."
Vanderpool-Wallace edged California's Liv Jensen by 0.12 seconds on the first day of the three-day championships to take the 50-meter freestyle and earn her first national title with a time of 21.38 seconds.
"In prelims my details weren't very good, so I knew heading into the finals I was going to have to clean up my details if I wanted to win the race," Vanderpool-Wallace said. "In finals that's all I worked on, and I was able to get my hand on the wall first."
Success did not stop there for the 18-time All-American as she captured the 100 freestyle title with a time of 47.07 and set a new U.S. Open, NCAA, SEC and Auburn record with a time of 46.81 seconds.
"The NCAA record has been my goal since I got to Auburn my freshman year," Vanderpool-Wallace said. "I've been looking at the record boards and saw Natalie Coughlin, 47.00, and I knew that I could do it and that I wanted to do it. This year I finally decided to dedicate myself to breaking that record."
The 2008 Olympian and 10-time SEC champion set records in every individual event in which she swam while also finishing second in the 100 fly and 400 medley relay.
"She had to do a little taper right in the middle of the season which wasn't ideal for us," Hawke said. "She just been so focused all year, and she's wanted to win this from the very first workout. Once you set your mind to something like that, it's hard to take that away, especially from someone with her determination."
Vanderpool-Wallace's relay leg of 46.82 set a new pool record and was 0.01 from tying her NCAA record in the freestyle.
The relay team included senior Caitlin Geary, sophomore Hannah Riodan and freshman Emily Bos.
The team swam an Auburn record time of 3:11.70, beating the previous record of 3:12.00 set during the 2009 SEC Championships.
Geary made her second appearance in an NCAA 100 freestyle finals session, earning a fifth-place finish with a season-best time of 48.51, beating her previous best by 0.09 seconds.
Riordan also earned a new top time in the 100 freestyle prelims.
The Cornwall, Ontario, native finished 20th with a time of 48.95 and was followed by freshman Olivia Scott (49.90) in 48th and sophomore Becca Jones (50.32) in 57th.
Bos took 17th place in prelims with a time of 1:54.93, coming up just short of earning her second finals appearance.
The Holland, Mich., native also earned her first All-American honors following a fifth place finish in the 100 backstroke "B" final.
Vanderpool-Wallace was named SEC Swimmer of the Year and won the Commissioner's Cup for being the high-point scorer at the 2011 SEC Championships.
These performances have led to her nomination for the Honda Sports Award, presented annually to the nation's top swimmer.
Auburn competed in the 2011 Championships with 11 swimmers and junior Vennie Dantin as the lone diver.
Dantin earned her second All-American honor at the 2011 Championships, placing sixth off the tower with a six-dive total of 311.75.
The three-time All-American also placed sixth off the one-meter springboard.
"It was a great meet for her," said head diving coach Jeff Shaffer. "Sixth on one-meter and sixth on the tower is a fantastic showing.
"She hit three outstanding dives to start the finals, but got a little anxious with the kickout on her fourth dive and didn't quite finish it the way we wanted it to. It was a great contest."
Sophomore swimmer Katie Gardocki achieved a new personal best, placing 13th overall with a time of 16:04.85, beating her previous best of 16:10.86 set at the 2010 Championships.
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