Swimmer Honored

GAMBIER, Ohio (March 6, 2006) Carla Ainsworth, Class of 1995, was selected as the Division III Most Outstanding Swimmer over the past twenty-five years of National Collegiate Athletic Association championship competition. In 1981, the NCAA began sponsoring women's championships, which opened the door to increased athletic and academic opportunities for female athletes. Today, the NCAA sponsors 44 women's championships in 20 sports.

Ainsworth entertained undergraduate offers from Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern, Michigan, and Stanford, but in the end decided on Kenyon. Ainsworth never dabbled; she immersed herself in all her endeavors, conquering not only water and words, but serving as senior class president, musical director of the Owl Creek Singers, and volunteer with Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

In the pool, Ainsworth established seven NCAA records and eight Kenyon records, leading the Ladies to four of their national-record twenty team titles. She was the first woman to win the 200-yard freestyle in four consecutive seasons and the first to be named NCAA Swimmer of the Year three times (1992, 1994, 1995). In the 1994 season, she was chosen as the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-American of the Year and the Division III Honda Broderick Athlete of the Year. At the conclusion of her senior year, Ainsworth was again named Division III Athlete of the Year, this time by College Sports magazine.

She capped off her career as the all-time NCAA leader with twenty-six national swimming titles (eleven individual and fifteen relay) and graduated magna cum laude in chemistry and history. Her twenty-eight All-American awards were complemented by Goldwater and Byers Postgraduate scholarships, as well as a string of Academic All-American honors.

Ainsworth earned her medical degree from Washington University and her master's in public health from the University of California-Berkeley. Following a residency and advanced training in geriatrics at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Ainsworth joined Country Doctor Community Health Center, a busy urban clinic in Seattle. In 2005, she was inducted into the Kenyon Athletic Association Hall of Fame.

A list of Ainsworth's NCAA titles:

• 50-yard freestyle (1993, 1994, 1995)
• 100-yard freestyle (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)
• 200-yard freestyle (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)
• 200-yard medley relay (1995)
• 400-yard medley relay (1992, 1993)
• 200-yard freestyle relay (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)
• 400-yard freestyle relay (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)
• 800-yard freestyle relay (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)

Read more about Kenyon's swimming history...