2013-14 Women's Swimming & Diving Roster
Roster
Rachel Bernhardt
- Class:
- Freshman
- Hometown:
- Vineland, N.J.
- High School:
- Vineland
Career: Rachel Bernhardt became the first Drexel swimmer to ever earn Division I Honorable Mention All-American status after swimming in her second-straight NCAA Championships to end her senior year in 2017. A two-time CAA Women’s Swimmer of the Year, the Vineland, New Jersey native made her first appearance at the NCAA Championships as junior in 2016, becoming the first women’s swimmer at Drexel to do so. In between her junior and senior campaign, Bernhardt competed at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, swimming both breaststroke events in Omaha, Neb. Bernhardt grabbed the first-ever Drexel women’s swimming gold medal at the 2016 CAA Championships as a junior, winning both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events and successfully defended her titles as a senior in 2017 while adding golds in 200-yard and 400-yard medley relays. In her final three years at Drexel, she earned six gold, three silver and two bronze medals as she was 11-time All-CAA. She leaves Drexel with seven school records – three individual, four relay – of the women’s 19 total swimming records. Following the end of her collegiate career, she was named the 2017 Mary Semanik Award recipient by Drexel Athletics, given to the outstanding female athlete who best exemplify scholarship and athletic ideals of the former Directors of Athletics, Mr. and Mrs. Semanik.
NCAA Championships
Senior (2016-17)
100 breast prelims – 59.68 (14th of 48)
100 breast finals – 1:00.21 (‘B’ Final, 16th place, Honorable Mention All-American)
200 breast prelims – 2:12.22 (43rd of 63)
Junior (2015-16)
100 breast prelims – 1:01.04 (38th of 50)
200 breast prelims – 2:13.30 (47th of 59)
2016 U.S. Olympic Trials
100 breast prelims – 1:10.27 (43rd of 125)
200 breast prelims – 2:35.75 (74th of 124)
CAA Medal Finishes
Senior (2016-17)
Gold – 100 breast, 200 breast, 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay
Silver – 200 free relay
Bronze – 50 free, 400 free relay
Junior (2015-16)
Gold – 100 breast, 200 breast
Sophomore (2014-15)
Silver – 100 breast, 200 breast
Freshman (2013-14)
No medal finishes
2016-17: Senior campaign…Earned Honorable Mention All-American status…Mary Semanik Award recipient...Competed in her second-straight NCAA Championship, swimming both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events in Indianapolis in March 2017…Turned in a Drexel record and personal best of 59.68 in the 100-yard breaststroke prelims to earn a spot in the ‘B’ finals on Friday, March 17…Finished with a time of 1:00.21 in the ‘B’ finals of the 100-yard breaststroke from lane seven to finish 16th overall to become the first Drexel swimmer to ever earn Division I Honorable Mention All-American status…Closed NCAAs with a time of 2:12.22 in the 200-yard breaststroke prelims on Saturday, March 18…Named the 2016-17 CAA Women’s Swimmer of the Year for the second-straight year…Finished with the second-most points at the 2017 CAA Championships…lead Drexel as seven-time All-CAA in the 100 breast, 200 breast, 50 free, 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay…Earned four of six gold medals for Drexel at the conference championships…Earned gold in the 100 and 200 breast for the second-straight year with times of 1:00.37 and 2:12.60…Also took gold in the 200 and 400 medley relays with times of 1:39.61 and 3:40.03 as she swam the breaststroke…Earned a silver medal in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:32.91…Grabbed bronze in the 50 free at 23.21 and the 400 free relay at 3:24.79…Tied a Drexel record at the conference championships with her 50 free time… Helped set new relay records at the conference championships in the 200 free relay (1:32.91, Drexel), 400 free relay (3:24.79, Drexel), 200 medley relay (1:39.61, Drexel, CAA All-Time, CAA Championships) and the 400 medley relay (3:40.03, Drexel)…Drexel women finished 4th of 7 at the 2017 CAA Championship with a score of 443…Named the CAA Women’s Swimmer of the Week four times on October 26, November 1, January 10 and January 31…Named the CollegeSwimming.com CAA Women’s Swimmer of the Week three times on October 31, December 6 and January 24…Competed at the 2016 AT&T Winter National Championships in Atlanta in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes… Won the ‘B’ finals of the 200 breast with a time of 2:10.62 after a 2:12.40 prelim time…Finished seventh in the ‘A’ finals of the 100 breast with a time of 1:00.99 after a 1:00.49 prelim time…Notched season bests of 23.21 in the 50 free at the 2017 CAA Championships, 50.66 in the 100 free at the 2016 Patriot Invitational, 59.68 in the 100 breast at the 2017 NCAA Championships and 2:10.62 in the 200 breast at the 2016 AT&T Winter National Championships.
2015-16: Named the CAA Women’s Swimmer of the Year, the first ever for the women’s program… First Dragon swimmer to qualify and compete at the NCAA Swimming Championships…Swam in two preliminary events at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb. in June 2016…Named All-CAA in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes…Became the first Dragon to win a gold medal at the CAA Swimming Championships, producing first-place finishes in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes…Received the team’s Most Valuable award at the squad’s season-ending banquet… Named the CAA Swimmer of the Week on Oct. 28… Named the Drexel Athlete of the Week on both March 1 and March 22…Swam in six different individual events for Drexel in her junior campaign…Posted four of her top times on the year in the CAA Championship finals with times of 23.77 in the 50 free, 51.31 in the 100 free, 1:00.65 in the 100 breast and 2:10.89 in the 200 breast… Both of her gold medal breaststroke times at the conference championships came as school records…Also had season bests of 29.77 in the 50 breast against Howard and 1:00.23 in the 100 IM at the Patriot Invitational…Part of the 200 free relay squad that tied the school record at 1:34.25…Part of the 400 free relay quartet that broke a school record with a time of 3:26.55…Member of the 400 medley relay team that set a new school record at 3:45.22.
2014-15: Primarily swam in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and 200 medley relay…named to the All-CAA Team for her finishes in the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the CAA Championships…swam in six finals events at the CAA Championships including second place finishes in both the 100 breaststroke (1:01.16) and 200 breaststroke (2:14.13), both of which set new school records…also swam in four relay events including the 200 and 400 freestyles and 200 and 400 medleys…named the team’s Most Valuable Player at the end of the season…owned the team’s top times of the year in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes…also held the top five times in each event on the year…named the CAA Swimmer of the Week on October 28, 2014 and January 13, 2015…had 39 top-five finishes on the campaign including 24 victories.
2013-14: Swam the 200 breast during CAA Championships and landed eighth place with a time of 2:18.61...tied her personal best when she took fourth in 100 breast during CAA Championships with a time of 1:02.08...won both the 100 and 200 breast versus Lehigh as well as versus Georgetown...captured first place in the 100 breast versus Northeastern and Delaware with a time of 1:05.27... member of the top 200 and 400 relay squad throughout the season...at the Frank Elm Invitational, brought home the women's first top place finish in the “A” round finals, as she dominated the 100 breast with a final time of 1:03. 97, won the 200 free relay with teammates Brianna Bentz, Katie Duggan and Claudia Duguay, finished second in the 200 medley relay, finished third in the 400 medley relay and sixth in the 400 free relay…clocked a 1:04.56 in the 100 breast at the AT&T National Championships.
Background: Four-Year letterwinner and co-captain at Vineland…three time All-American…four-time Cape Atlantic League first team all-star…four-time All South Jersey…two-time New Jersey State League of Champions silver medalist in the 100 breast…placed first in the record holding 200 yard free relay…five-time record holder for Vineland girls swim team…twice named swimmer of the year by the Daily Journal…swimmer of the year for sjnj.com…part of Vineland swimming relay team that placed first at the NJSIAA Swimming Meet of Champions.
Personal: Daughter of Candice and Kevin Bernhardt…majoring in physical therapy.
