Trailing by 35 points entering the final day of the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at University Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Auburn staged a huge rally and dominated the final night to defend its team title and win its fifth title in the last six years. The Tigers had seven individuals finish in the top eight on the final evening and finished with 535 points. Arizona placed second with 477 points and California was third (372.50). Stanford (333), Georgia (290), Texas (220), Florida (203), Texas A&M (198), Michigan (191) and Tennessee (127) rounded out the top 10.

Auburn began the evening in with a huge team effort in the 1650 freestyle. Auburn senior Hayley Peirsol defended her NCAA title in a time of 15:49.92. Her senior teammate Adrienne Binder finished second in 15:53.44. Auburn sophomore Chelsea Haser finished ninth and freshman Maggie Bird took 15th and the Tigers racked up 48 points to claim the team lead with 391 points. North Carolina’s Whitney Sprague finished third in 15:58.74 and Michigan’s Emily Brunneman was fourth in 16:00.89. UCLA’s Katie Nelson was fifth in 16:05.04 and Michigan’s Emily Hanson took sixth in 16:08.69 to give the Wolverines two All-Americans in the event. Penn State’s Nicole Collins and Georgia’s Claire Maust rounded out the top eight.

Freshmen dominated the 200 backstroke with Florida’s Gemma Spofforth taking the title in 1:52.96. Stanford’s Julia Smit followed in 1:53.39 and Georgia’s Aleksandra Putra was third in 1:53.71. Florida’s Leah Retrum gave the Gators 15 more team points in fourth place in 1:54.06 and Texas A&M’s Kristen Heiss was fifth in 1:54.09. Arizona’s Caitlin Iversen, Florida State’s Romy Altmann and Auburn’s Melissa Marik rounded out the top eight.

Georgia’s Kara Lynn Joyce completed a career sweep of an event for the second time during the Championships, taking the 100 freestyle for the fourth straight year. Joyce clocked a 47.24 and was pushed hard by 200 free champion Lacey Nymeyer of Arizona who finished in 47.34. California’s Emily Silver took third in 47.45 and Auburn’s Kara Denby was fourth in 48.07. Auburn’s Emily Kukors placed fifth in 48.40 and Michigan’s Lindsey Smith was sixth in 48.93. Virginia Tech’s Sara Smith was seventh in 49.09 and Georgia’s Jessica Cole was eighth in 49.53. Auburn extended its team lead to 39 points in the event.

Rebecca Soni took over during the last 50 yards to win the 200 breaststroke for the second straight year in a time of 2:08.23. Wisconsin’s Yi Ting Siow was second in 2:10.42 while Stanford’s Caroline Bruce in 2:11.06. Virginia Tech’s Jessica Botzum had a strong swim to finish fourth in 2:11.07 while Texas’ Elizabeth Tinnon was fifth in 2:11.09. Alexi Spann of Texas (2:11.53), Jaquelyn Craft of Arizona (2:12.26) and Elle Weberg of Florida Atlantic (2:13.08) rounded out the top eight.

Another freshman claimed the 200 butterfly. Stanford’s Elaine Breeden cruised to a win in 1:54.24, followed by Arizona’s Whitney Myers in 1:53.75. California’s Dana Vollmer was third in 1:54.30, followed by teammate Erin Reilly in fourth in 1:54.98. Auburn had two finalists again with Kristin Hastrup placing fifth in 1:55.90 and Ava Ohlgren in seventh in 1:56.34. Oregon State’s Saori Haruguchi took sixth in 1:56.05 and Cal’s Rachel Ridgeway rounded out the top eight in 1:57.97. The Tigers all but clinched the championships, stretching their lead to 53 points.

Texas’ Jessica Livingston won the 10-meter platform title in dramatic fashion. Livingston won by the smallest margin of victory in the history of the event, just 1.3 points. She finished with a score of 357.85, just ahead of Indiana’s Lindsay Weigle (356.55). Livingston returned to the University of Minnesota for the meet, where she transferred from after her freshman season. Kentucky’s Taryn Ignacio placed third, followed by Purdue’s Amanda Miller and Miami’s Heather Bounds.

For the fifth time in as many relays, an NCAA record fell to end the night in the 400 freestyle relay. California’s team of Emily Silver, Erin Reilly, Jessica Hardy and Dana Vollmer finished in 3:12.13, shattering the mark of 3:12.77 set by Arizona in 2006. Arizona placed second in 3:13.36 and Georgia was third in 3:14.31. Auburn took fourth in 3:15.35 and Michigan placed fifth in 3:17.20.

Swimmer of the Year: Kara Lynn Joyce – Georgia
Diver of the Year Cassidy Krug – Stanford
Swimming Coach of the Year - David Marsh and Dorsey Tierney-Walker – Auburn
Diving Coach of the Year - Rick Schavone - Stanford

QUOTES

Hayley Peirsol, 1650 Freestyle Champion, Auburn
On her swim:
“We have put in the work this year. We have worked hard and NCAAs is just the fun part. This is where all of the work pays off.”

On defending her title:
“It’s great. I wanted to go out with a bang. We have World Champs coming up. I leave on Tuesday. During the whole race, I was just thinking suck it up for a little over 15 minutes. This is the last one.”

Have you been thinking about late assistant coach Ralph Crocker:
“Obviously only positive thoughts. We get emotional in a good way. He is probably so proud.”

On the team race and the impact of Auburn’s 1650 swimmers in the prelims:
“The distance swimmers that swim at night, we are never allowed to swim at prelims. We are in the team room looking on the computer hitting refresh, refresh, refresh. Our coaches are telling us to get rest. They had an amazing morning. It always gets us fired up to swim at night. They get after it. We are always very strong in the last day. They got the ball rolling and we just wanted to keep the momentum going.”

Gemma Spofforth, 200 Backstroke Champion, Florida
On being out of swimming for a year before coming to Florida:
“It is pretty amazing. I did have a whole year out because I was sick and everything was just going wrong. This year has been amazing and the whole team atmosphere at Florida is amazing. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

On her first NCAA title:
“Coming into the event it didn’t mean as much to me as it did for all the Americans because I did not grow up with NCAAs. I didn’t know anything about it. I think it is just a fun event and obviously Florida doing well is amazing.”

Rebecca Soni, 200 Breaststroke Champion, Southern California
On defending her title:
“It feels really great. I was really hoping to get a second year and hopefully next year we will come back strong again.

On USC’s fifth breaststroke title:
“I know we have a really strong breaststroke program right now and I just hope we can get stronger with each year.”

Co-Head Coach David Marsh, Auburn
On the relay’s teams in prelims:
“Our relay’s were utterly amazing this morning. Every one of our girls moved on to second swims, except the one we had disqualified. We make a goal of that and to actually accomplish that is phenomenal. I think what it was, was a reflection of the year and Dorsey Tierney-Walker, our co-head women’s coach prepared their training program. They knew it would be toughest the last day and came out and had no doubt that we would have our best day this last morning and that set everything up.”

On the meaning of RHOP:
“RHOP is Ralph’s House of Pain, which is his training group, He’s a distance coach and he proposed that we really win this championship through the distance events, which is what we were going for. I talked to Ralph’s wife today and her comment was that she knows Ralph is shining down on this championship. He is the fabric of this team and the fabric of the university.”

Jessica Livingston, Platform Diving Champion, Texas
On winning the NCAA title:
“It was a really exciting event. I am so excited. It makes it a much bigger deal winning this at the place you used to live. It made it a lot more special for me.”

On winning the closest platform contest in NCAA history:
“It made me very nervous. I knew that it had to be a good dive but not how good it had to be. I just apparently cut it as close as I possibly could.”

Kara Lynn Joyce, 100 Freestyle Champion, Georgia
On her career:
“It’s been a great four years. I couldn’t imagine doing it anywhere else. I have accomplished things I never would have expected. I am sad it’s over. I am going to be training at Georgia with those girls and supporting them for the next couple of years.”

On coming close to setting the all-time NCAA championships record:
“It means a lot. Jenny is am amazing person and it’s great to be up there with all those great names. It’s okay that I didn’t get it. It’s all right with me.”

Elaine Breeden, 200 Butterfly Champion, Stanford
On the race:
“I knew it was going be a fast swim tonight, because of the competition I was with and the people swimming around me tonight. I felt good all year, but this was a very tough race and I was excited to win it.”

On the competition in the race:
“It was just a couple hundredths off my best time. I swam that one at Pac-10s and racing Dan Vollmer is what pushed me to go faster, and I had Whitney Myers over in the far lane. Without the competition there is no way I would have been able to go that fast.”

On how the race played out:
“It was harder then I expected. I was trying to take out relaxed, finish out strong and be able to race people at the end. I was a little more tired then I was expecting, but overall I was pretty happy with my performance.”

400 Freestyle Relay Champions, California
Senior Erin Reilly
“It is my last race and a great way to finish, and I knew these girls could do it. It is an awesome way to finish and we are just thrilled with the result.”

Junior Emily Silver
“I am just really proud to be part of this team and representing Cal. Training all year and getting to represent the program and have a great race like this is what it comes down to. It felt great to have a performance like this.”

Sophomore Dana Vollmer
“That was a great way for us to finish the meet. It is amazing getting to race with these girls and anchoring the relay knowing I was going to dive into the pool in a great position help us break the record.”

Sophomore Jessica Hardy
“I am just really excited that we broke the American record. It was one of our goals to break this record. I am just really proud of our team stepping it up and competing at such a high level tonight.”