The NCAA released the names of the swimmers who have qualified for this year's Division III Championships on Thursday and Lake Forest College's Becky Shaak was included on the list. The national championship meet participation status of four Forester divers will be announced early next week.
Shaak, a junior, qualified for the 2012 championships with a time of 4:28.97 in the 400-IM. She owns the 13th-fastest time in the field and placed seventh in the nation in that event last year.
This season's NCAA Division III Championships will be held March 21-24 at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. The 400-IM will be contested on Thursday, March 22. Shaak will also compete in the 200-IM on Wednesday and the 100-breaststroke on Friday.
In addition to finishing seventh in the 400-IM at the 2011 NCAA Championships, Shaak also placed 13th in the 1650-freestyle and had the meet's 29th-fastest preliminary time in the 500-freestyle. She also qualified for the national meet as a freshman and placed 12th in the 1650-freestyle.
Four Lake Forest divers are also eligible for selection to the national meet. Junior Sam Gardner and freshmen Christina Pekar and Sarah Pekar posted qualifying scores off both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards at this year's Midwest Conference Championships and junior Matt Perry also exceeded the standard while claiming a conference title in the 3-meter competition. A committee will review video recordings and accomplishments of all eligible divers before selecting those to compete in Indianapolis. The list of divers chosen to participate at the national meet will be released early next week.