200 Free Relay: Cal Leads Qualifiers With Pool Record
The University of California-Berkeley set a pool record to kick off the 2012 women's NCAA championships. The team of Kaylin Bing, Liv Jensen, Colleen Fotsch and Katherine Raatz clocked a 1:27.11, breaking the previous record of 1:28.15 held by Auburn. They were aided particularly by Jensen, who had the fastest split in the field at 21.31. Five other teams swam under the James E. Martin Aquatic center record: Stanford (1:27.36), Texas (1:27.65), Arizona (1:27.79) and Auburn (1:27.86). Big 12 champion Missouri was 6th, while Tennessee and SMU rounded out the field.
Most notable in the B final was Georgia. The Bulldogs, predicted by many to win the meet, will have to claw back from a first event deficit tonight as they finished 10th and missed the championship final. Wisconsin, seeded in the top 8, also slipped to 9th. Texas A&M, Florida, USC, Maryland, Boise St and Penn St completed the B final.
500 Free: Vreeland Shatters Pool Record
Shannon Vreeland of Georgia led a trio of Bulldog swimmers into the A final of the 500 free. Vreeland swam 4:34.49, breaking Natalie Coughlin's pool record in the event, while teammates Amber McDermott (4:36.10) and Wendy Trott tied for 3rd. Stephanie Peacock of North Carolina broke up the UGA cluster to seed 2nd with a 4:35.06. Ashley Steenvorden of Minnesota, Haley Anderson of USC, Shelly Harper of Cal and Lindsay Vrooman of Indiana closed the top eight.
The B final will be lead by Maureen McLaine of Texas A&M, who finished in 4:38.75. It took 4:41.17 to score at the meet in this event, the time recorded by Erika Hajnal. Notable for the national title race is Georgia's Kelsey Gaid, who will be first alternate tonight after adding slightly to her seed time.
200 IM: Leverenz, Hosszu Prepare For Night Duel; Beisel DQ'd
The top two seeds for tonights 200 IM came as no surprise. Caitlin Leverenz used a 31.7 breaststroke split (only one other swim was under 33) to take the top seed at 1:53.31. Hosszu closed the event faster than anyone else with a 26.30 and touched in 1:53.43. Both times were under the former Martin Aquatic Center record. Southern California got three swimmers in the A final, with Stina Gardell (1:55.63) and Meghan Hawthorne (1:55.93) finishing 7th and 8th respectively. Stanford (Dirado), Texas (Bispo) and Georgia (Margalis) also put swimmers in the A final.
Texas A&M qualified four swimmers in the B final, led by Kim Pavlin, and followed by Paige Miller, Erica Dittmer and Caroline McElhany. Emma Reaney of Notre Dame qualified 9th and Tanya Krisman of USC qualified 16th in 1:57.84.
Florida star Elizabeth Beisel was disqualified for a false start. The decision was appealed and upheld.
50 Free: Vanderpool-Wallace Leads Five Swimmers Under 22
There was obvious anticipation of Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace's swim after she became the first woman to split under 21 on a relay last month at the SEC Championships. This morning, she used a stellar second 25 to a 21.46, one tenth slower than her previous best. Well back are the second and third qualifiers, Margo Geer (21.66) and Liv Jensen (21.71). It appears to be Vanderpool-Wallace's race to lose. Stanford qualified two for the A final, Betsy Webb and Samantha Woodward.
The Cardinal put another qualifier in the B final, with Madeline Schaefer tieing for 10th with Florida's Sarah Bateman. Notable as well was Liberty's Brie Ravettine, a sophomore in just the second year of that program's existence. Hannah Riordan of Auburn snatched the last scoring place with a time of 22.38.
400 Medley Relay: Cal Ends the First Preliminary with NCAA Record
In the final heat of this morning's preliminaries, California broke the NCAA record with a 3:28.14. They were pushed throughout by a strong Texas A&M squad, who got a stellar 57.24 breaststroke split from Breeja Larson. Auburn was third, with Tennessee, Southern California, Arizona St , Texas and Arizona all qualifying for "A" final. Georgia finished 9th, capping and up and down morning for their squad. Penn St finished in 16th, swimming well in front of 17th place Indiana in a time of 3:35.11.
Cal was aided by Cindy Tran's 50.98 backstroke leadoff, which led the field. They also had the fastest butterfly with Sara Isakovic swimming to a 51.0. Georgia's Megan Romano actually out-split Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace on the 100 free anchor 46.51 to 46.77.