March 13, 2004
Klag & Simons Are All-Americans Twice
at NCAA Division III Championships

ST. PETERS, MO -- Washington College senior Margaret Klag (Silver Spring, MD/Sherwood) and freshman Ally Simons (Camp Hill, PA/Cumberland Valley) each earned All-American status in two events at the NCAA Division III Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, hosted by Principia College and held at the Rec-Plex in St. Peters, MO, Thursday, yesterday, and today.

Klag, the first Shorewoman to ever qualify for the Division III Championships four years in a row, achieved All-American status for the first time in her career yesterday, finishing fourth in 1:06.02 in the finals of the 100 breaststroke. She finished third in the preliminaries in 1:06.33 earlier in the day.

Klag became an All-American in the 200 breaststroke today, finishing 14th in the finals in 2:25.61. She swam a 2:25.53 to finish 16th in the preliminaries of the event.

Simons' top performance came today in the 200 butterfly. She finished eighth in the finals in 2:07.46. In the preliminaries, she swam a conference- and school-record time of 2:06.01 to finish third.

Simons finished 14th in the 100 butterfly finals last night in 58.80. She tied for 16th in the preliminaries of the in 58.33 earlier in the day. She then won a swim-off in a lifetime-best time of 58.09 to earn the final spot in the consolation final and assure herself of All-American status for the first time.

On Thursday, Simons finished 33rd in the preliminaries of the 200 individual medley in 2:12.67, while Klag tied for 34th in the 50 freestyle preliminaries in 25.05.

The four All-American performances turned in by the duo matches the most ever in one year by the Shorewomen. Stacy Sines and Pamela Vasquez were both double All-Americans in 2001.

Ally Simons (left) and Margaret Klag became All-Americans at the NCAA Division III Championships.