DECAPRIA FINISHES SECOND IN 50 FREE AT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

ATLANTA, GA – Lycoming College freshman Nathan DeCapria (Jersey Shore, PA; Central Mountain) earned All-American status, Thursday evening, placing second in the 50-yard freestyle at the NCAA Division III National Swimming Championships.

Earlier in the day, DeCapria announced his arrival at the meet by winning the preliminaries with a time of 20.69 seconds to earn the top seed in the finals. His time also set a new Lycoming College record.

In the finals, DeCapria nearly duplicated his first race, turning in a time of 20.77 seconds. The only swimmer faster was the defending national champion in the event, Eddis Singleton on Mount Union College, who swam a :20.07. No other opponents were faster than 21 seconds.

“I can’t even begin to describe how happy I am and how proud I am of Nathan,” said Lycoming head coach Jerry Hammaker. “Honestly, we were just thrilled that he qualified to compete in the national meet and our hopes were that he would finish in the top 16 so that he could swim in the evening session. In my wildest dreams I thought he might place in the top eight, but to place second is just astounding – especially as a freshman.”

“I’m really excited,” said DeCapria. “I didn’t quite know what to expect when we got here. I’m extremely surprised that I was able to do this well – it’s pretty cool.”

One of the benefits of recording the fastest time during the preliminaries was that DeCapria was allowed to choose the music played just prior to the finals. Knowing that most sprinters prefer loud, upbeat music to get “pumped” prior to a race, DeCapria decided instead to go the mellow route with a little Stevie Wonder. 

“I was just trying to throw everyone else off a little bit, maybe disrupt their focus,” said DeCapria. “I guess it worked because a lot of the guys didn’t swim real fast times.”

Whether the music had any impact on the race or not is debatable, but the impact of the runner-up finish on his career and the entire Warrior program is not, according to both Hammaker and DeCapria.

“I’m already thinking about next year,” said DeCapria. “It’s such a great feeling right now that it just makes me want to work harder to get better, so I can come back and win it all.”

“Not only is this a great personal accomplishment for Nate,” said Hammaker. “But it’s also a great accomplishment for the program. This takes us to another level. The chance to compete and train with an All-American will serve as great motivation for our current student-athletes and will help us to continue recruiting swimmers of his caliber.”

DeCapria will have the opportunity to compete again at the national championships on Saturday in the 100 free. While he is seeded 45^th out of 50 swimmers in the event, he is hoping to finish considerably higher than that. Coincidentally, Eddis Singleton is also seeded 45^th in the event having recorded an identical qualifying time of :47.74 for the race.