COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 20. WHILE Georgia held tough for quite awhile, California's Dana Vollmer put the exclamation point on an NCAA and U.S. Open record in the 800-yard freestyle relay to complete the second night of action.
Cal's Sara Isakovic (1:43.15), Hannah Wilson (1:44.15), Liv Jensen (1:43.64) and Vollmer (1:41.75) connected to post a 6:52.69 that crushed the NCAA and U.S. Open record of 6:54.02 set by Auburn at the SEC Championships last month. Auburn's time will still stand as the American standard.
The win is California's third in the event as the Golden Bears won in 2004 and 2007.
Georgia's Allison Schmitt, Chelsea Nauta, Aleksandra Putra and Morgan Scroggy captured second in 6:55.05, while Texas' Karlee Bispo, Leah Gingrich, Katie Riefenstahl and Kathleen Hersey took third in 6:58.43.
California ended the day in the team lead with 302 points, while Georgia stood second with 295.5. Amazingly, Arizona enters the third day with a shot at defending its title even with a prelim disqualification of its favored 200 medley relay. The Wildcats held third with 282.5 points. Stanford (213.5) and Auburn (195) maintained their grip on fourth and fifth.
