Women’s NCAA Division I Championships Off to Strong Start

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 8. IN the first preliminary session of the 2007 Women's NCAA Division I Championships, swimmers did not wait for finals to clock impressive times. Four pool records fell this morning, with another four athletes swimming under the records.

200 freestyle relay
Heading into finals tonight, the women of Michigan are the top seed in the 200 freestyle relay. The quad of Kaitlyn Brady, Margaret Kelly, Hannah Smith and Lindsey Smith stopped the clock just ahead of Auburn at 1:28.82, which is a pool record. Smith, who anchored the relay, split the team's fastest time of 21.88.

While none of the Lady Tigers swam under 22 seconds, they swam a combined time of 1:29.00 to finish the race in second place. Georgia rounded out the preliminary Top 3 with 1:29.14. Sprint specialist Kara Lynn Joyce led off the Bulldog relay, recording the third-fastest split of the morning in 21.73.

The race promises to be a close one tonight, as the remaining Top 8 teams all posted times under 1:30.00. Arizona (1:29.16), the defending champion in the event, qualified for the finals fourth. Last year, the Wildcats swam the event in 1:27.98 to earn the title.

Kentucky (1:29.23) sits in fifth place. Junior Jenny Bradford anchored the relay in 21.47 to give her the fastest split of the morning. Stanford (1:29.40) recorded the sixth-fastest time. Cardinal Brooke Bishop swam the fourth leg in 21.58 to give her the second-fastest split. Tennessee (1:29.47) shaved two seconds off its entry time to occupy seventh place. Texas A&M (1:29.97) was the last team to qualify for the final heat in eighth place.

500 freestyle
The mid-distance event will be a mixture of veterans and newcomers in tonight's 500 freestyle. Caroline Burckle of Florida jumped all the way from an 18th seed to swim the fastest prelim time of 4:39.36. Her time is a second faster than Laura Conway's winning time at the NCAA championships last year. The junior split a 1:49.74 at the 200-yard mark to take the race out faster than everyone but Georgia's Claire Maust. Burckle finished fifth in the event last year.

Maust, who hit the wall in 4:39.47 for a second-place seed this evening, flipped at 1:49.25. This will be her first trip to a NCAA final in this event. Alicia Aemisegger, a freshman at Princeton, dropped three seconds off her entry time to jump from ninth place to third when she completed the race in 4:40.52. The Tiger looks to be a tough finisher, as she swam the final 50 yards faster than both Burckle and Maust.

Auburn faired well in the event, occupying three of the eight spots in the finals. Adrienne Binder and Hayley Peirsol qualified fourth and fifth, respectively. Binder, who entered the meet with the second fastest time and finished fourth in the event last year, secure her spot in finals with 4:40.94. Peirsol, the 2006 silver medalist, followed with 4:41.97. Freshman Maggie Bird will also compete for Auburn in the eighth-place seed. She dropped six seconds to finish with 4:43.10.

Other contenders are Blake Hatyer of California and Leone Vorster of Arizona. Both freshmen, Hayter swam the sixth-fastest time of 4:42.05, while Vorster posted a 4:42.42 for seventh.

200 IM
Continuing its dominance into the second event, Auburn swimmers recorded the fastest two preliminary swims in the 200-yard I.M. Freshman Ava Ohlgren swam the event in pool record time of 1:56.52. Teammate Emily Kukors was the runner-up in 1:56.90. The reigning champion, Whitney Myers, qualified third with 1:57.25.

Ohlgren and Myers both proved to be strong swimmers on the first leg of the race. Ohlgren turned at 25.27, while Myers bolted ahead of competitors with 25.10 in the first 50. Kukors, however, brought the race home faster than both women, splitting 26.97 on the final stroke. Myers faded to 28.20, while Ohlgren held on at 27.83.

Julia Smit and Elaine Breeden, who owned the first and third fastest times coming into the meet, qualified in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Smit got off to a sluggish start, splitting slightly behind tonight's leaders in the front half of the race. However, her breaststroke (34.68) and freestyle (28.06) splits suggest she has the juice to finish the race. Teammate Breeden will also earned a chance contend for the title when she completed the event in 1:58.05.

The remaining spots belong to Texas A&M's Julia Wilkinson (1:58.35), Tennessee's Megan Tomes (1:58.36) and Arizona's Hailey Degolia (1:58.94). Degolia took the race out faster than any other swimmer, as she split 24.78 in the fly.

50 freestyle
Defending champion Kara Lynn Joyce looks to defend her title, qualifying as the top seed tonight in pool record time of 21.79. Joyce set the NCAA record last year, sprinting the event in 21.63. The Bulldog tied ninth-place Heather Braford for the fastest 25-yard split. Both women flipped at 10.68.

Wildcats Lara Jackson and Lacey Nymeyer also swam under 22 seconds to finish second and third, respectively. Jackson came in at 21.89, while Nymeyer, who placed second last year, is third tonight with 21.92.

Four swimmers who competed in the championship finals in the event last year, will again swim in the final heat this year. Veteran Emily Sivler garnered a fourth-place finish in 22.16. Jenny Bradford of Kentucky followed in 22.25.

Triin Arjand improved upon her eighth-place finish in 2006 to qualify sixth with 22.27. Brooke Bishop slid into the final slot by .02 seconds to finish in 22.31 Kara Denby will join the veterans in seventh place. Her time was 22.30.

400 medley relay
California lowered its already impressive 400-yard medley relay time to earn the first-place seed tonight. The team of Lauren Rogers, Jessica Hardy, Dana Vollmer and Emily Silver improved the pool record to 3:32.47. The time outdistances any other team by two seconds.

Hardy was responsible for the fastest split in the breaststroke leg of the race, swimming it in 59.25. Vollmer also blew the competition out of the pool when she clocked a 50.82. She was faster than any other flier by more than a second.

Stanford came the closest to its rival, swimming a combined time of 3:34.96. Julia Smit led the relay with the third-fastest split of 53.82. Elaine Breeden (52.00) clocked the second-fastest fly leg.

The Arizona Wildcats, who won the event in 3:31.70 last year, sit in third at 3:35.11. Florida garnered a fourth-place finish, led by Gemma Spofforth, who split the fastest backstroke time of 53.13. The team swam the event in 3:35.29. Auburn (3:36.31), Texas (3:36.77), Texas A&M (3:37.45) and Southern California (3:37.54) will all swim the event for the second time tonight.

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