Bulldog to Become Most Decorated NCAA Athlete in History?

Kara Lynn Joyce
Georgia superstar swimmer Kara Lynn Joyce is chasing history. This week, she will compete at the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis where she stands on the door step of becoming the most decorated female athlete in the history of the NCAA.

Kara has an opportunity to make NCAA history this week:

• By completing a 4 year sweep of the 50 and 100 freestyles. This has never been accomplished by one athlete in both events.
  
• Repeating her trifecta sweep of the 50/100/200 freestyles. Kara was the first athlete to accomplish this with her NCAA performance in 2006.
  
• If she is successful in her bid for three individual titles, she will tie Jenny Thompson (19) for the most NCAA Championship titles.

If those things happen and Kara's relay team successfully defend their relay title, she will end her careeer with 20 NCAA Championship titles. That would be an unoffical record for most NCAA titles for any athlete in any sport.

After she finishes up her careeer at Georgia, she'll stay in Athens and train for the Olympics with Georgia coach Jack Bauerle. Here's what Coach Bauerle says about Kara:

"Some sprinters get a temperamental tag, but she brings her lunchpail,'' Bauerle said. "She swims for all the right reasons. Some kids swim for a scholarship, some for a contract, she swims because she loves to swim. As she said to me the other day, she'd be doing this anyhow.

For a frame of reference, she's having the type of career that might lands her in the Georgia Circle of Honor alongside names like Hoage, Stanfill, Kessler and Dooley. Or they could retire her swimmies I guess.

See Also:

-- Joyce Swimming for History - Detroit Free Press
-- On the Verge of History - Ann Arbor News
-- Lady Dawgs seek continued success - Georgia
-- SEC Swim Fans Blog - Kara's Chase for the Record
-- NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving -- NCAASports.com

PWD

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