March 30, 1999

At the U.S. National Swimming Championships held at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, N.J., Villanova University freshman swimmer Maddy Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa./ Germantown Academy) won the 200 meter breaststroke title with a time of 2:29.73. Finishing in second place behind Crippen was Amanda Beard (2:31.21), who was the silver medalist in the 200 breaststroke at the 1996 Olympic Games.

In addition to her U.S. National title performance in the 200 breaststroke, Crippen also placed fifth in the 800 yard freestyle with a time of 8:45.38. Diana Munz won the event in 8:33.03.

Crippen's U.S. National Championship comes less than two weeks after winning an NCAA title in the 400 yard individual medley (4:06.76) in Athen's Ga. She became only the second Villanova female swimmer ever to win an NCAA Championship. Competing in the 200 yard breaststroke as the No. 17 seed at NCAA's, she finished in third place with a time of (2:11.66). Crippen earned All-America honors in the 400 yard individual medley, the 200 yard breaststroke and the 500 yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships.

Crippen came to Villanova from Germantown Academy, where she twice won High School National Titles in the 400 yard individual medley. She immediately began making strides for head coach Ed Bartsch and the Wildcats upon arrival on the Main Line. In her first Big East Conference Championships appearance on Feb. 25-27, she won a Big East title in the 400 yard individual medley with a conference record time of 4:11.86. In addition to her 400 individual medley title, she also won conference championships in the 200 yard butterfly and the 500 yard freestyle. For her accomplishments, she was named the Big East's Most Outstanding Female swimmer.