Texas backstroker Sarah Denninghoff is expected to swim at the 2015 NCAA Championships, despite missing the Big 12 Championship meet last weekend.
The redshirt senior was a splashy acquisition for the Longhorns when she transferred prior to the 2012-2013 season with 11 All-American awards to her name, but injuries have limited her impact on the program so far, despite flashes of brilliance in both long course and short course.
Denninghoff, now married, decided to return from surgery to compete for the Longhorns in her final season of eligibility, and though her season has gone well, she isn’t entirely out-of-the-woods. She missed the Big 12 Championships last weekend, but according to Texas coaches she is expected to compete at NCAA’s in just over two weeks in Greensboro.
While the coaches stopped short of saying her participation is 100% for NCAA’s, they did feel confident that she would be ready in time.
The senior is seeded 13th in the 100 backstroke and 11th in the 200 backstroke, and her 3rd event would be the 200 free where she’s seeded 43rd on pre-cut psych sheets.
Denninghoff is the Longhorns’ best backstroker when healthy, but Carol Capitani’s squad does have a viable plan B in sophomore Tasija Karosas, whose 52.49 ranks her as 24th-best in the country this year. More importantly than the medleys, then, will be Denninghoff’s impact on the Texas free relays (again, if she’s in peak form).
