Who will be 100?

NCAA Championships

Brittany McCabe and Tom Grabiak have had no shortage of successes in the pool. One of them is poised to become the answer to a Franklin & Marshall swimming trivia question.

McCabe and Grabiak are set to compete at the first gender-combined NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, which get underway Wednesday, March 18, at the University of Minnesota.

For McCabe, it is a final chance to add a few All-America certificates to the four she has earned through the first three years of her career. For Grabiak, a junior, it is the opportunity to become an All-American for the second time.  For both swimmers, it is the opportunity to bring home the 100th All-America award in the Diplomats' vaunted swimming history.

It is also a chance for the current crop of swimmers to maintain the torrid pace of productivity of the last two decades worth of Diplomats. F&M has churned out 30 All-Americans in each of the past two decades. In the '90's, F&M produced 36 All-America tags, four more than the teams of '80's. F&M has earned 29 All-American honors in the new millennium.

Grabiak will get the first crack at it, swimming in the 200-yard Individual Medley on Wednesday. It is one of the three events he posted a qualifying time in for the championship meet. His top mark this season, the 1:54.23 that earned him Centennial gold and an NCAA B-cut, is the 25th ranked swimmer in the event.

"Tom is headed to Minnesota over a second ahead of his best times in all of his events," says F&M's Head Coach, Rueppel. "His goal is to be the first Diplomat swimmer ever to achieve All-America status in three events at the same meet."

Grabiak qualified for the 100 and 200-yard breaststrokes. He is the 13th seed in the 200 with a mark of 2:03.62 and the 21st seed in the 100 on the strength of a 56.91.

If Grabiak doesn't grab the 100th All-American tag in the 200-yard I.M., McCabe will get the first of her three chances in the very next event. The Diplomats' senior will swim in the 50-yard freestyle on her first day of competition. McCabe's 24.67 makes her the 58th qualifier in the race.

Like Grabiak, McCabe will jump into her stronger events later in the competition. She posted the 12th best qualifier in the 100-yard Backstroke with a 57.36 and the 25th best qualifier in the 200-yard Backstroke at 2:05.90.

"Brittany goes into the meet nearly a second under her best time in her specialty, the 100 back, and two seconds ahead in the 200 back," notes Rueppel. "We are hopeful for a fourth consecutive year achieving All American honors."

McCabe finished 13th in the 100-yard backstroke in each of the past two year's NCAA Championships. She finished eighth in the race as a freshman and placed 16th in the 200-yard Butterfly that season as well.

Grabiak, the Centennial's Outstanding Performer in each of the past two Conference championships, earned his first All-American certificate last year with an 11th place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke.

The National Championships come three weeks after one of the Diplomats most successful Centennial Championships on record. The men won their fifth-straight title while the women went from fifth to second place.  F&M combined for 11 automatic qualifying times, including two automatic qualifiers. F&M set seven school and three Centennial records. The Diplomats produced 15 gold medals in men's swimming en route to establishing a new conference record of 910.5 team points scored.

F&M fans can follow all of the Championship action on the Official Championship web page. Nightly updates will be furnished through GoDiplomats.com.