NCAA Women's Division I Championships Team Recaps - Day Three
Alabama: Women’s Swimming and Diving Scores on the Final Day of the NCAA Championships
The Alabama women’s swimming and diving team scored in a pair of events on the final day of the NCAA Championships being held here at the Student Rec Center Natatorium on the Texas A&M campus.
“It was a good way to finish off the weekend,” Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. “This meet was incredibly competitive. Everyone had to fight for every place, every tenth of a second, every point.”
Junior Agustina de Giovanni finished 15th in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:11.03. She posted a career-best time of 2:10.50 in the preliminaries, shaving almost two seconds off her previous best time. Freshman diver Carrie Dragland scored for the second time this weekend, taking 15th place off the platform with 219.30 points. She was 12th off the three-meter board on Friday.
Both De Giovanni and Dragland earned second team All-American honors for their efforts this weekend.
UC Davis: KUCERA GAINS BEST SHOWING DURING FINAL DAY OF NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
UC Davis junior Heidi Kucera continued her improvement at the NCAA Division I Women's Championships during the final day of competition as she finished 18th in the 200-yard breaststroke at Texas A&M's Student Rec Center Natatorium.
Kucera went 2:10.95, which was her second-fastest time of the season and left her just 0.14 seconds off a top-16 mark and an honorable mention All-America nod. In addition, her 100 breast split time of 1:03.24 ranks as the fourth-fastest this season. Kucera improved her showings during all three days of the championships. She finished 5th4 in the 200 individual medley and 24th in the 100 breast during the first two days, respectively.
It marks the end of the 2008-09 season for the Aggies. The team combined to put up six new individual school records while setting records in all five relay events.
UC Santa Barbara: Freeman Earns All-American Honors in the 200 Breaststroke
Senior Katy Freeman ended her UC Santa Barbara swimming career with a bang on Saturday as she took eighth place in the 200 breaststroke and set a new school record at the 2009 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, which was hosted by Texas A&M. The Gaucho women finished the meet in 35th place with their 13 points.
In the event’s preliminaries on Saturday morning, Freeman swam her way to the No. 3 seed into the evening’s finals with a school and Big West Conference record-setting time of 2:08.50, which was .62 seconds faster than her previous record.
During the final, Freeman took eighth in a time of 2:10.12. She was the second Gaucho woman in two years to compete in an event final at the NCAA Championships – teammate Anne Marie May finished third in the 50 freestyle in 2008.
With her top-eight finish, Freeman earned her first career All-American honor. She was named an Honorable Mention All-American in 2008 after taking 11th in the same event at the NCAA Championships.
Junior Anne Marie May also competed on Saturday in the 100 freestyle. May placed 35th in the event’s preliminary heats during the morning with a time of 49.20, missing her personal best and school record time by .43 seconds.
The Gaucho women finished the meet in _ place with their 13 points. In addition to Freeman’s All-American Honors, May also picked up All-American Honorable Mention accolades on Thursday with her 15th place finish in the 50 freestyle.
Duke: Twichell Battles To 23rd Place In 1650 At NCAA Championships
Duke sophomore Ashley Twichell turned in a courageous performance Saturday night at the 2009 NCAA Championships at Texas A&M's Student Rec Center Natatorium, swimming 16:12 to take 23rd overall in the 1650 free.
Twichell improved her time in the swim four seconds from last year when she swam 16:16 at this meet. After two consecutive appearances at the NCAA Championships, Twichell is the first Duke swimmer to make it to that stage since 2004.
"It was truly a courageous swim for Ashley in the mile after having to scratch in the 500 earlier this week with a stomach virus," said head coach Dan Colella. "After watching what she did today, I am truly impressed and proud. A lot of people would have rolled over under those circumstances, but she did a great job."
Twichell elected not to participate in Thursday's 500 freestyle after experiencing symptoms of a stomach virus upon arrival in College Station. She rested up for today's 1650 - her strongest event - but was still not at full strength at race time.
Georgia's Wendy Trott won the event in 15:45.49, followed by North Carolina's Whitney Sprague in 15:46.57.
Twichell was the No. 4 seed entering the race as she clocked a lifetime-best, ACC meet, and Duke school record 15:56.50 to win the 2009 ACC Championships. She became Duke's first swimmer to come in under 16 minutes in the mile swim.
Today concludes a sophomore season in which Twichell set three Duke records as an individual and one in a relay - 500 free (4:44.56), 1000 free (9:37.57), 1650 free (15:56.50), and 800 free relay (7:22.49). She owns a total of five records as she set the 200 free record her freshman year.
The Blue Devils finish with 14 team points to make a name for themselves amongst the top teams in the nation - coming after freshman diver Abby Johnston placed fifth last night on the three-meter springboard. The 14 points is the most in Duke history at the national championships.
Hoosiers Finish 10th at NCAA Swim and Dive Championships
A school record and sixth-place finish from Allison Kay in the 1,650 freestyle was one of the Hoosier highlights on the third and final day of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in College Station, Texas.
Indiana finished the meet 10th with 152 points. That is the most points ever scored by the Hoosier women at an NCAA meet and led all Big Ten schools. California took home the national title with 411.5 points, followed by Georgia (400.5), Arizona (389), Stanford (312.5) and Texas (307) in the top five. Indiana has now posted back-to-back top-10 finishes at the national meet for the first time in school history.
In addition, senior Christina Loukas was named the NCAA Diver of the Year. Loukas closed out her collegiate career by placing first on the three-meter, second on the one-meter and 11th on the platform.
“It was an up-and-down meet for us,” said head coach Ray Looze. “But I am really happy with how we finished. We got off to a rocky start, but with every session we continued to get better. The way this team responded to the adversity says a lot about this group. It was great to see them fight back and overcome a challenge. Any time a team finishes in the top 10 you have to be pleased.”
For the second time in as many days, Kay etched her name into the IU record books with a spectacular swim in the 1,650 free. Kay took almost four seconds off the previous record with a time of 15:56.50 to finish sixth. Kay becomes the first Hoosier ever to drop below the 16-minute mark. Yesterday Kay took down her own school record in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:06.45.
Freshman Nikki White closed out her first NCAA Championships appearance with a 10th-place finish in the mile, clocking a personal best of 16:02.98. That is the third-fastest time in school in school history and gives her two of the five fastest times in school history. Sophomore Amanda Smith also swam the event, placing 24th (16:12.97). Cassie Luhrsen was 37th with her time of 16:31.08.
Junior Kate Zubkova recorded a 10th-place finish in the 200 backstroke, finishing second in the consolation final with a time of 1:53.34. Zubkova finished fourth in her heat and 14th overall in the morning prelims with a time of 1:53.79. Ashley Jones took third in her heat and 35th overall with a career-best time of 1:56.14. That topped her old mark of 1:56.36 set at the Big Ten Championships last month.
Sarah Stockwell went 2:10.23 in her final NCAA swim to place 12th in the 200 breaststroke. That topped her prelim time of 2:10.71 and tied her own mark as the third fastest in school history. Amilee Smith topped her career best in the prelims, winning her heat in a time of 2:12.72 and finishing 33rd overall. That is more than a second better than her previous time of 2:13.74 set at last month’s Big Ten Championships. Abby Cooper swam the final heat of the morning, finishing eighth in the heat and 36th overall with a time of 2:13.00.
Kay led the way in the 200 butterfly, finishing 25th in the prelims with a time of 1:57.02. Brittany Barwegen was 34th (1:58.67), with Amanda Smith 39th (1:59.98).
Competing in the 100 freestyle, freshman Margaux Farrell finished seventh in her heat and 61st overall with a time of 50.49.
The morning session concluded with the 400 free relay as Donna Smailis, Brittany Strumbel, Farrell and White finished seventh in heat one and 22nd overall with a time of 3:21.73.
Coming off her championship performance in last night’s three-meter competition, Christina Loukas finished ninth in the prelims on the platform with a score of 267.65. Gabby Agostino was 18th with 228.40 points, while Brittney Feldman was 24th (167.80). In the consolation finals, Loukas placed third with 261.80 points, giving her an overall finish of 11th. Loukas earned her third All-America honor of the meet and the 11th of her career out of 12 opportunities.
Kansas: Mayrovich Places 19th and Mertz 17th on Final Day of the NCAA Championships
Kansas' Maria Mayrovich placed 19th in the preliminaries of the 100 yard freestyle Saturday afternoon at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in College Station, Texas. Erin Mertz placed 17th in the platform diving competition.
Mayrovich touched the wall in a time of 48.51 seconds in the 100 yard freestyle. Mayrovich was just 0.06 seconds off of her career-best time. She also narrowly missed the finals in the 100 yard freestyle by 0.09 seconds.
Mertz, an All-American on the one-meter board, finished in 17th place finish on the platform board. Mertz scored 229.15 points, which were less than 10 points off of a season-best score.
Saturday's competition wraps-up the 2008-09 season for the Kansas swimming and diving team. Please check back with kuathletics.com later in the week for a comprehensive season wrap-up and a feature on the newest Jayhawk all-american, Erin Mertz.
Ohio: Bower Completes Swims at NCAA Championships
Ohio University junior Chelsey Bower rounded out her first appearance at the NCAA Swimming Championships, hosted by Texas A&M University, Saturday with a 51st-place finish in the 100 freestyle. Bower (Bethel Park, Pa.) became the first Bobcat to compete at the NCAA Championships since Kim van Selm qualified in 2001.
Bower stopped the clock in 49.92 during her preliminary heat, tying with Virginia Tech’s Steff Drechsel for 51st of 68 swimmers. She was a bit off her school-record and qualifying time of 49.16, which entered her in the race as the 41st seed. Bower was one of just seven swimmers from mid-major conferences in the race, as she finished ahead of two of them, including Miami’s Alyson Schmidt, who placed 55th in 50.09 and was the only other swimmer in the race from the Mid-American Conference.
“One of our goals was to swim a lifetime best, and obviously we fell a little bit short of that, but all in all we were pretty happy,” Ohio head coach Greg Werner said. “We made a couple tactical errors with breathing and Chelsey paid the price for that coming home (over the final 50), but she has to get used to that if she wants to be back here next year and swimming in the finals. While it didn’t pay off today, we feel it will be quite beneficial for the future.”
Bower, a 2009 First-Team All-MAC selection, did not qualify for Saturday night’s finals. California’s Dana Vollmer claimed the 100 free NCAA title in 47.17
The 2009 Academic All-MAC honoree also swam in the 50 free Thursday at the NCAA Championships, where she finished 35th of 63 in 22.58, one-tenth off her school-record time, and improved her seeding three spots. The NCAA Championships, held at the Aggies’ Student Recreation Center Natatorium, ran from Thursday, March 19 through today (March 21).
“Chelsey’s been a delight to be with all year, but especially this week because she realized that, not only can she compete at this level, but her teammates can too,” Werner said. “She’s been saying it over and over all week ‘we can definitely do that or our relay team could be in here swimming right now,’ so she’s coming home with confidence and that will spread to her teammates and will only lead to great things in the future.”
North Carolina: Whitney Sprague Takes Second Place NCAA Finish In 1650 Freestyle
In her last swim as a Tar Heel, Senior Whitney Sprague placed second in the nation in the 1650-yard freestyle and posted the eighth fastest performance in NCAA history in the event with a time of 16:46.57 on the final evening of the 2009 Division I NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
Sprague demolished her own ACC and UNC records in the event by dropping more than four seconds off of her previous best of 15:51.02, set in 2007. Her swim was the third successive Top 3 finish in the event at the NCAA Championships. She also placed second last year.
“Whitney swam in the second to last heat of the mile and put up a fantastic swim,” said University of North Carolina head coach Rich DeSelm. “She dug deep and put up a giant time: a school record, an ACC record, and the eighth fastest performance by a female in the event in NCAA history. It was a tremendous swim by Whitney, and I am so proud of her.”
Katura Harvey became the second All-American of the meet for the Tar Heels with a seventh place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle. Harvey swam a career best time of 15:56.77, dropping more than two seconds off of her previous best of 15:59.07 set a month ago at ACCs. Her time is the second fastest all-time at Carolina in the event behind Sprague. Freshman Katelyn Martin also competed in the mile, finishing 38th in the event with a time of 16:32.16.
The nine-member Tar Heel squad finished the meet in 20th-place with 41 points.
“I’m proud of our group and our entire team,” DeSelm said “It takes more than just these nine girls here at the meet to make this happen. Everyone pushed one another to make us better. It’s a true team effort and I couldn’t be more proud right now.”
In preliminaries Saturday morning, Junior Ashley Howard touched the wall in 28th place in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:55.53, just .08 off of her personal best and UNC record of 1:55.45.
Three Tar Heels competed in the preliminaries of the 100-yard freestyle. Rebecca Kane placed 32nd with a personal best time of 49.08, besting her previous record of 49.10. Kane’s 49.08 places her second all-time at Carolina in the event. Junior Eliza Butts finished 57th in 50.15 and junior Megan Steeves placed 59th in 50.28.
Freshman Laura Moriarty led the Tar Heels in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 24th-place finish in 2:11.69, just half a second off of her career best time of 2:11.12. Fellow freshman Layne Brodie finished 32nd in the event with a time of 2:12.71.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Rebecca Kane (49.43), Megan Steeves (49.79), Eliza Butts (49.96), and Katura Harvey (49.93) just missed making finals with an 18th-place finish in the event in 3:19.11.
UNC’s men’s team will begin NCAA competition next Thursday in College Station, Texas. UNC’s qualifiers are junior David Solarz and sophomores Chip Peterson, Joe Kinderwater, Tyler Harris and Tommy Wyher.
NC State: Davies Wins National Championship in Platform Dive
Kristin Davies used a 339.65 in the platform dive to collect NC State’s first ever national championship in diving on Saturday, March 21, during the final day of the NCAA Championships.
“This is a huge accomplishment for Kristin, Wolfpack swimming and diving, and NC State athletics as a whole,” said head swimming and diving coach Brooks Teal. “We are so proud of her. She definitely rose to the highest level at the right time, and this is a testimony to her hard work and perseverance, as well as the great job that her and diving coach Jenny Keim Johansen have done all year long.”
Davies becomes the first national champion in the history of the Wolfpack women’s program. Six national championships have come from the men’s side.
Davies got things started earlier in the day with a 272.55 for eighth-place in the prelims, securing her spot in the evenings final round and cementing her status as a full-fledged All-America. A year ago Davies took 13th at the NCAA Championships, grabbing honorable mention All-America status.
In the finals, Davies took control in the second round and led the rest of the way. Texas’ Jessica Livingston took second on a 321.50.
Cullen Jones won the last national championship for the Wolfpack swimming and diving program, taking the 50 freestyle crown in 2006.
Texas places fifth at NCAA Championships
Texas registered five top-three finishes, including top-two showings from senior diver Jessica Livingston and freshman swimmers Kathleen Hersey and Karlee Bispo, as the Longhorns moved up one spot in the final day of competition to finish fifth Saturday evening at the 2009 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Texas A&M’s Student Rec Center Natatorium.
The Longhorns totaled 307 points, only 5.5 points behind fourth-place Stanford, and registered their highest NCAA Championships finish and highest point total since 2001, when UT took third with 350.5 points. California captured the NCAA team title with 411.5 points, and Georgia took second at 400.5 points. Defending champion Arizona placed third with 389 points, and Stanford took fourth at 312.5.
Freshman Karlee Bispo shattered Colleen Lanne’s eight-year-old school record in the 100 freestyle, where she took second in 47.48. Lanne’s previous school mark of 47.88 had stood since the 2001 Big 12 Championships. It became the 14th school record to be broken this season. Senior Hee-Jin Chang took eighth in the event at 48.49 to nail down her second career individual All-America finish.
Freshman Kathleen Hersey landed her third top-three finish of the meet, as she rewrote her school record in the 200 butterfly once more and finished second in 1:51.18, just behind Stanford’s Elaine Breeden, the American record holder, who finished first in 1:50.98. Freshman Leah Gingrich secured her first individual All-America finish by taking eighth in 1:56.22.
Senior diver Jessica Livingston and freshman diver Shelby Cullinan capped an immensely successful meet for the Longhorn diving corps by taking second and third, respectively, in the platform event. Livingston, the 2007 NCAA platform champion, ended her Texas career by taking second with 321.50 points. Cullinan secured her second top-six finish in as many days and placed third with 310.70 points to give UT its fourth top-three individual finish of the evening.
Freshman Katie Riefenstahl added her first individual All-America finish by taking eighth in the 200 backstroke at 1:54.28.
Texas finished off the evening by breaking the school record in the 400 freestyle relay for the third time this season. Bispo, Chang, Riefenstahl and Hersey finished in 3:11.69 to break their previous school mark of 3:11.82.
Sophomore Natalie Sacco added five points to the Texas tally by taking 12th overall in the 1,650 freestyle with a new personal best of 16:07.38. Junior Susana Escobar tacked on another point for the Longhorns by taking 16th at 16:09.14. Gingrich took 21st at 16:12.26, and sophomore Ashleigh McCleery placed 42nd at 16:40.91.
Towson: MEREDITH BUDNER PLACES 11TH IN 1650-FREE AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS; EARNS HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICAN HONORS
Sophomore Meredith Budner (Walter Johnson H.S./Rockville, Md.) of Towson University finished in 11th place in the 1650-yard freestyle at the 2009 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Texas A&M University on Saturday afternoon.
Competing in her third and final event, Budner turned in a time of 16:06.82 to break her own school and Colonial Athletic Association records.
As a result of her time, Budner has earned honorable mention All-American status in the 1650-yard freestyle and becomes the first Towson swimmer to score points at an NCAA Championship.
It was the third event of the NCAA Championships for Budner. On Thursday, she finished in 35th place and won her heat during the preliminaries of the 500-yard freestyle before placing 38th in the 400-yard individual medley on Friday.
“Meredith swam an unbelievable race today,” Towson Coach Pat Mead said. “It was back and forth the entire race and with about 100 yards to go, Meredith just kicked it into gear. It was a tough swim, but she has done a great job. It has been great to see her compete this week.”
Budner led the Tigers to their second straight Colonial Athletic Association title in late February, winning three individual events.
Washington State: Ahlin Breaks WSU Record in Final Day of NCAA Championships
Junior Michaela Ahlin broke her own WSU 200 butterfly record Saturday as she swam in the final day of the 2009 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
Ahlin placed 21st in the preliminary rounds of the event today with a time of 1:56.46 improving on her previous WSU record time of 1:56.66. Ahlin narrowly missed the cut time for the B Final (1:56.03) by just 43 hundredths of a second. The A Final cut time was 1:54.68. After the prelims today, Stanford’s Elaine Breeden led all swimmers in the event with a time of 1:51.85.
Senior Elyse Peterson also competed today finishing 43rd in the 200 breaststroke prelim with a time of 2:13.81, less than a second off her WSU record time of 2:13.36. The B Final cut time for the event was 2:10.81 and the cut time for the A Final was 2:09.33. Fellow Pacific-10 Conference swimmer Rebecca Soni of USC led in the event after today’s preliminaries.
"I am so proud of these three swimmers,” Head Coach Erica Quam said. “They each have their own story and they did an outstanding job this weekend making their team, coaches, and Washington State proud not only by the way they got up and raced in the fastest meet in the world, but in the way they carried themselves: with utmost class and Cougar pride.”
“As a senior, Elyse Peterson showed her toughness and consistency all season long,” Quam said. “She led by example with this and her performances here at NCAAs can help pave the way for our future by knowing where we are capable of competing and the direction in which we are headed as a program.
“Rugile has dropped a full second in her 50 freestyle since last season. She went from not making NCAAs to swimming between a 22.45 and a 22.65 seven different times in the last three weeks of the season. This shows incredible consistency and has raised her level of confidence and experience going into this summer when she is slated to compete in the World University Games and World Championships.
“Michaela has grown so much, barely missing this meet last year and dropping nearly three seconds to qualify this year. True to her history, she got better each day and was another three tenths faster in her prelim swim than her finals swim at Pac-10s. She walked away from this meet with two lifetime best performances and lowered two of her school records, as well as having the highest place of our three swimmers in the meet in the 200 butterfly.
“This is an incredible field of competitors. It is such a challenge to break into the top 16 to score and I believe our program has made huge strides to get three swimmers to qualify for this competition. Our next step is to bring at least one more swimmer along next year so that we have the potential to also compete in relays. With Michaela and Rugile returning to the team, it is up to them to bring this mentality back to our group and I know they too believe we are capable of this and see our potential to be here competing at an even higher level next season.
“I would like to thank our administration and numerous support staff for all of their help throughout this season. It has been an exceptional season for our program, one that reinforces what we are doing, the way that we have been doing it, and makes me believe even more in what we are capable of in the near future!”
