In senior season, Hannan continues to make splash at University of Texas

Postcards

Colleges

Tommy Hannan has fallen in love with the University of Texas and Austin.

There are no daily nightmares on the Baltimore Beltway for the former Mount St. Joseph record-breaking swimmer, and Hannan enjoys a slower and friendlier pace of life.

That's just for starters for the 2000 Olympic gold-medal winner in the 400-medley relay in Sydney, Australia. The senior is part of a collegiate swimming dynasty. Texas has not lost a conference meet in 22 years and has won the NCAA men's championship two of the past three years. All of which fits in perfectly with Hannan's record at the school.

He is an 11-time All-American, three-time NCAA champion and seven-time Big 12 Conference champion.

"We've lost four meets by a total of six points since I've been here," said Hannan, who grew up in Catonsville. "I've only been home about 10 days in more than a year. I'm always training, and I have so much fun being a part of this team."

Hannan said his teammates are always saying or doing something to loosen up the atmosphere caused by a relentless training routine,

When asked for an example of what a teammate might say, he said, "You probably couldn't print most of it."

Texas is ranked second in the nation.

Hannan has turned in NCAA consideration times in the 100 butterfly (47.92 seconds), the 100 backstroke (48.54), the 200 butterfly (1 minute, 47.65 seconds) and the 200 individual medley (1:48.08).

And what about the 2002 Olympics? "Right now, I plan on training through the Olympics," Hannan said. "It's hard to keep a sharp training edge for so long. There just aren't a lot of professional opportunities out there."

Boyd has super run

Lauren Boyd (Severna Park) had an eye-popping junior season for the Gettysburg College volleyball team and has been honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, which named her to the NCAA Division III All-Mid-Atlantic regional team.

Boyd's finest moment of the season came in a 3-1 victory over Muhlenberg in the Centennial Conference championship match, as she had a season-high 51 assists and propelled Gettysburg into the NCAA Division III tournament. Gettysburg advanced to the round of 32 and finished with a 23-8 record.

Boyd, a setter, led the team this season in assists with 1,041, which gives her a career total of 2,454 for second place on the school's all-time list. She also tied for the team lead in service aces (42) and was third in digs (235).

The first-team All-Centennial Conference pick started in every match, had 121 kills, 33 blocks and a hitting percentage of .310.

Gibson, Rogers excel

Starting freshman point guard Crystal Gibson (Randallstown) has been instrumental in Lebanon Valley College's 6-2 start.

The 5-foot-9 standout leads the team in steals with 19, is averaging 4.3 assists, 3.6 points and 2.9 rebounds. She has four blocks but has 30 turnovers as she adjusts to the college level.

Another freshman from Baltimore County, 5-11 forward Tamika Rogers (Milford Mill) does not start, but she is averaging 17.3 minutes, 4.4 points and 6.0 rebounds for the Flying Dutchmen. Rogers has contributed eight blocks and six steals.

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