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Georgia Leads - But Not By Much

Georgia holds a slim 129-122 over USC after day one of the 2011 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. The Bulldogs were bolstered by a third-straight 500 free win by junior Allison Schmitt and supporting roles in that race by Wendy Trott, Shannon Vreeland and Chelsea Nauta who all finished in the top 10. The Bulldogs also managed two top eight finishes in the relays despite not being seeded to do so. 

Championship Central

USC had a great day, improving their fifth-seeded 400 medley relay to second when it counted and grabbed the first of what could be many wins by junior Katinka Hosszu. The Trojans also got ‘A’ final efforts out of Haley Anderson in the 500 and Kasey Carlson in the 50 and a consol win from Stina Gardell.

Stanford leads Cal for third 116 to 115. A runner-up placing from Maya DiRado in the 200 IM and top four finishes from the 200 free relay and Betsy Webb in the 50 paced the Cardinal effort. Cal was a perfect two-for-two in the relays while Liv Jensen added a runner-up in the 50 free and Caitlin Leverenz placed fourth in the 200 IM to score 112 of Cal’s 115 total points.

200 Freestyle Relay – Arizona jumped out to the lead thanks to a 22.02 leadoff by Margo Geer but California changed that by the halfway point of the race and never looked back. Arizona, who rolled out an all-freshman relay, stayed in thick of it until the final leg when Liv Jensen dropped the hammer on the anchor for Cal to give the Golden Bears the win in 1:27.36. Texas anchor Karlee Bispo came charging hard on the last leg and nearly caught the ‘Cats however ‘Zona held on for second 1:28.02 to 1:28.06. Stanford finished a disappointing fourth despite having three 50 free swimmers ranked in the top 15 in the field. Auburn moved from seventh to fifth thanks to a 21.24 anchor leg by Ariana Vanderpool-Wallace. Wisconsin placed sixth thanks in no small part to a 21.73 second leg by Maggie Meyer. Georgia passed Maryland thanks to Megan Romano’s 21.65 anchor to finish seventh in 1:28.99 while Maryland earned eighth in 1:29.55. In the consolation final, Florida jumped out to the lead and never looked back (1:28.56) with LSU (1:29.23) trailing right behind for three-quarters of the race.
500 Freestyle – Georgia junior Allison Schmitt made it a perfect three-for-three in the 500 free with a tight win in 4:34.20 over a game Meredith Budner from Towson (4:34.56). Schmitt led by 1.26 at the 350 but Budner refused to wilt splitting 27.10 on her last 50 but fell just a third of a second short. Alyssa Anderson of Arizona had the strongest finish, closing in 26.76 to grab third place. Minnesota’s Ashley Steenvorden (4:37.11) held off a charging Wendy Trott (4:37.55) for the fourth spot. USC’s Haley Anderson split up a pair of Bulldogs to take sixth in 4:38.99 while Georgia freshman Shannon Vreeland was seventh in 4:39.14. Florida freshman Elizabeth Beisel took eighth in 4:42.18. Texas A&M freshman Cammile Adams took consols by the throat at the 100 and held on over the last 200 or so to win in 4:37.81 over Georgia senior Chelsea Nauta (4:38.61).

200 IM – USC junior Katinka Hosszu led wire-to-wire in what could be the easiest of three possible races for her this weekend. Hosszu cruised to a Texas pool record of 1:53.39 to easily finish ahead of Stanford freshman Maya DiRado (1:54.66). Texas earned their second third place finish in three races thanks to a strong effort from junior Karlee Bispo (1:55.07) who prevented Morgan Scroggy of Georgia (1:55.15) from a second straight third place finish in the 200 IM. Cal’s Caitlin Leverenz blasted a 32.12 on her breaststroke split to rank second heading into the free but slipped to fifth (1:55.22). UGA frosh Melanie Margalis sat third at the halfway point but fell to sixth in the back half of the race (1:55.42). UCLA senior Lauren Hall beat crosstown rival Lyndsay Depaul 1:56.67 to 1:57.78 for the seventh spot. USC picked up more points with a win the consol thanks to a time of 1:56.78 by freshman Stina Gardell. Auburn’s Caitlin Geary nearly erased a 1.3 second deficit on the free leg but fell just shot to grab second in 1:56.89.

50 Free – After a slower-than-expected prelim swim, Auburn’s Ariana Vanderpool-Wallace let it all hang out at night blowing by the field in 21.38. Liv Jensen was game to keep it close at 21.50 while Arizona freshman Margo Geer was the third and final swimmer under 22 seconds at 21.93. Betsy Webb of Stanford was the first over 22 seconds at 22.05 while USC frosh Kasey Carlson (22.13 just held off Gator Sarah Bateman (22.15). Jane Trepp of LSU (22.24) and Lauren Perdue of Virginia (22.32) closed out the top eight. Stanford teammates Kate Dwelley and Sam Woodward tied for first in consols in 22.22. to finish ahead of LSU’s Amanda Kendall.

One-Meter Diving – Minnesota junior Kelci Bryant added a one-meter national title to the three-meter one she won a year ago in West Lafayette with a 349.65 to 335.30 win over Missouri freshman Lauren Figueroa, duplicating their finish at both the Zone D meet and USA Diving Nationals over the past several weeks. Margaret Hostage of Stanford gave the Cardinal a much-needed bosst with a score of 327.65 to grab third just ahead of Ohio State’s Bianca Alvarez (325.15) and Duke’s Abby Johnston (324.30). Vennie Dantin helped the Auburn cause with a sixth-place finish (318.65) while Emma Friesen of Hawaii (315.45) and Carrie Dragland of Miami (Fla.) (314.85 rounded out the top eight. Victoria Ishimatsu helped our USC’s big day by winning the consol final 336.50 to 313.05 over Brittany Viola of Miami (Fla.).

400 Medley Relay – Cal came in the prohibitive favorite here and left that way thanks to a 46.99 anchor leg out of Liv Jensen. The Bears finally shook off PAC-10 rival USC 3:28.53 to 3:29.82 thanks to that powerful anchor leg. Arizona finished comfortably in third in 3:30.52 as freshman Margo Geer turned in a 47.23 anchor leg. Tennessee climbed past Wisconsin, 3:31.41 to 3:31.73, after being behind by .68 heading into the last leg. Minnesota was sixth despite a monster 57.09 breaststroke split from Jillian Tyler. Good luck tomorrow breaststrokers. You’re going to need it. Title contenders Georgia (3:33.43) and Stanford (3:34.31) rounded out the top eight. Texas A&M dropped nearly two full seconds from prelims (3:31.80) to take the consol victory over archrival Texas (3:32.81) who beat them at the Big 12 Championships in this very pool last month.

Quotes from Day 1:
Georgia Head Coach Jack Bauerle: “Morgan Scroggy was a workhorse with six swims tonight. We had both Margalis and Vreeland both finaling tonight as freshmen. You can't ask for anything more."

On Jana Mangimelli 200 IM DQ: “We’re clearly disappointed at the DQ of Jana Mangimelli, but she responded really well and will do well. Everyone has something go wrong at this meet and that went wrong for us, but we're looking ahead to tomorrow."

USC Head Coach Dave Salo: "We’re excited to be where we're at. The goal coming in was to move up from 7th into the top four and it feels good to be on the ‘left side of the score.’

On Hosszu: “Katinka Hosszu finally won a NCAA title - she'd really wanted it and I still think her best event is the 400 IM tomorrow.”

Florida Head Coach Gregg Troy: “We swam a lot better tonight than we did this morning. We have to regroup, come back tomorrow and race tough. We have a long ways to go.”

Towson Coach Pat Mead: “Meredith swam the race exactly as we talked about from a strategy standpoint. Today was a great day for Meredith, her family and everyone associated with the Towson women's swimming and diving program, including our alumni. There are a lot of people talking about our program today and that is a credit to the hard work of the three swimmers who were in the water today for us. It was an exciting start to the weekend and we are looking forward to what happens tomorrow and Saturday.”

200 Freestyle Relay third leg, Erica Dagg, Cal-Berkeley
On her team’s winning performance: It’s awesome. It’s a great way to start off the meet and start off the session. We had a great morning, everyone really stepped it up. The whole team was with us on that relay.

500 Freestyle Champion Allison Schmitt, University of Georgia
On winning her third title in the event: It feels good. Every time I’m out there I swim for what’s on my cap, so it’s great to win one for the Bulldogs.
 
On holding off Meredith Budner: She had a great race and she definitely wanted it.

200 Individual Medley Champion, Katinka Hosszu, Southern California:
On the feeling from winning: Well, I’m a little tired, but I’m also very happy. It’s nice to be able to say that I’m the champion.

On how this win pushes her team: I think this will be really good for the team. I got the most points I could for this race. I hope I helped my team enough today.

50 Free Champion Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Auburn
On how she mentally prepared for this race: My details this morning weren’t very good, so all afternoon I was just thinking about my start and my turns. That’s all I was thinking about going into that race.

On being an NCAA champion: I’ve worked hard all year, so it’s great to achieve something. It’s awesome for Auburn. I hope it builds our confidence so we can swim faster.

One-Meter Champion Kelci Bryant, Minnesota, on last dive: I was thinking through my dive. I was kind of zoning out. I wasn’t stressing too much. I was having fun. I think I kind had it in my head that I had (the competition) in the bag already. I tried not to focus on what bad could happen.

Liv Jensen, Cal Berkeley, 400 Medley anchor:
On swimming the anchor leg for the winning relay: That really was a special swim. I was tired and had two events earlier this evening. But one of our captains sat us down and said, 'You know, we’re all tired. But we all have to swim our best. That’s what we have to give.' I just went for it. I think the outcome was awesome.

On this win giving her team momentum after being fourth after the first day: That’s really good momentum. We have a strong day tomorrow, and we’re really looking forward to that.

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