Atkinson

Alia Atkinson, the leading Caribbean female swimmer, swam the two fastest 200 metres breaststrokes of her career in the Texas A&M University 2009 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships at the Student Rec Centre Natatorium, held last Thursday through Saturday.

Atkinson gave Olympic gold medalist and University of South Carolina senior Rebecca Soni a run for her money in her signature event, becoming just the second A&M swimmer to take an individual silver medal at the NCAA Championships.

Atkinson recorded a time of 2:07.82 in the preliminaries, then sped to the seventh-fastest time in NCAA history, 2:06.99, in the final. Atkinson is now the third-fastest 200 breaststroker in NCAA history behind Soni and Tara Kirk, who won NCAA Swimmer of the Meet honours the last time A&M hosted the NCAA Championships in 2004.

Atkinson improved considerably on her failed campaign in the 200 metres breaststroke at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. She recorded a personal best, clocking 2:29.33 minutes, but could not advance from the opening round.

The Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team spent practically the entire year ranked eighth in the country and that's exactly where they finished following the completion of the 2009 NCAA Championships.