COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 21. THE third day of preliminary swimming, what might become the deciding session of the barn-burner that is the 2009 NCAA Women's Division I Championships, is underway.
200 Back After going out under U.S. Open and NCAA record, Florida's Gemma Spofforth shut it down coming home to post a relaxed time of 1:51.55 She owns the record with a 1:48.34 from the SEC Championships.
The event proved to be a powerful one for the Gators as well as the team went 1-2-3 in qualifying. Stephanie Proud (1:52.25) and Teresa Crippen (1:52.60) posted some quick times.
Arizona's Ana Agy (1:52.65), Georgia's Alex Putra (1:52.86), Virginia's Mei Christensen (1:52.90), Washington's Erin Campbell (1:53.15) and Texas' Katie Riefenstahl (1:53.29) also made the championship heat.
Arizona's Jenny Forster (1:53.34), Washington's Hannah Wilson (1:53.36), Auburn's Julianne McLane (1:53.43), Auburn's Melissa Marik (1:53.69), Stanford's Laura Wadden (1:53.72), Indiana's Kate Zubkova (1:53.79), Auburn's Rachel Goh (1:53.84) and Arizona's Caitlin Iversen (1:53.97) earned spots in the consolation round.
Florida, obviously, will grab the lion's share of the points with 3 up, but Arizona went 1 up and 2 down. Georgia also responded with 1 up to counter Arizona's comeback bid.
100 Free California's Dana Vollmer tied for the sixth-fastest time all time with a 47.24 to lead the way in prelims. She already owns the fifth-best mark with a 47.19 from the Pac 10 Championships last month.
Stanford's Julia Smit demonstrated some sprinter speed to become the eight-fastest performer of all time with a 47.44 for the second seed. Meanwhile, Georgia's Morgan Scroggy moved into 13th all time with a 47.73, while Stanford's Kate Dwelley tied for 14th all time with a 47.74.
Arizona's Lara Jackson (47.76), California's Hannah Wilson (47.85), Texas' Hee-jin Chang (47.93) and Texas' Karlee Bispo (48.08) picked up the rest of the A final transfer spots.
Auburn's Caitlin Geary (48.09), Arizona's Taylor Baughman (48.14), Auburn's Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (48.17), California's Liv Jensen (48.26), California's Madison Kennedy (48.30), Texas A&M's Triin Aljand (48.36), Minnesota's Stacy Busack (48.37) and Stanford's Samantha Woodward (48.42) rounded out the consolation final.
California will pick up some big points in the event with 2 up and 2 down, while Texas went 2 up. Georgia went 1 up, while Arizona went 1 up and 1 down. Stanford also went 2 up and 1 down.
200 Breast USC's Rebecca Soni will be looking to make history this evening as the first four-time champion in the 200 breast in NCAA history. She is currently tied with Stanford's Tara Kirk, Georgia's Kristy Kowal and USC's Kristine Quance with three titles apiece.
Soni crushed the preliminary session with an NCAA meet record of 2:05.48 that is the third-fastest time in the history of the event. Her time broke the 2:07.36 Kirk set back in 2002.
Texas A&M's Alia Atkinson finished second in 2:07.82, while UC Santa Barbara's Katy Freeman took third in 2:08.50. Arizona's Julie Stupp (2:08.74), Minnesota's Jillian Tyler (2:08.75), Arizona's Annie Chandler (2:08.94), Auburn's Micah Lawrence (2:08.99) and Arkansas' Yi Ting Siow (2:09.33) also made the championship heat.
Wisconsin's Ashley Wanland (2:09.50), Georgia's Michelle McKeehan (2:09.55), Notre Dame's Samantha Maxwell (2:09.86), Georgia's Mhyria Miller (2:10.17), California's Alexandra Ellis (2:10.27), Alabama's Augustina de Giovanni (2:10.50), Indiana's Sarah Stockwell (2:10.71) and Arkansas' Leah Pierce (2:10.81) earned the consolation heat spots.
Arizona continued to make this evening interesting by going 2 up, while Georgia went 2 down. California also went 1 down.
200 Fly Stanford's Elaine Breeden finished the morning by lowering her own NCAA meet record with a time of 1:51.85. The performance wiped out the 1:53.02 she set in 2007. The time also stands as the third-best ever in the event.
Texas' Kathleen Hersey posted a time of 1:52.74, which ties for the 11th-fastest all time. Meanwhile, USC's Katinka Hosszu tied with California's Amanda Sims for third with matching 1:53.54s.
Florida's Jemma Lowe (1:53.87), Oregon State's Saori Haruguchi (1:54.27), Texas' Leah Gingrich (1:54.44) and Arizona's Alyssa Anderson (1:54.68) completed the championship field.
Penn State's Kelly Nelson (1:54.96), Georgia's Annie Broome (1:55.18), Virginia's Megan Evo (1:55.37), Auburn's Ava Ohlgren (1:55.67), Houston's Sasha Schwendenwein (1:55.90), California's Sara Isakovic (1:55.91), Arkansas' Katie Kastes (1:55.96) and Maryland's Jen Vogel (1:56.03) will compete in the consolation final.
In the team title race, California went 1 up, 1 down, while Georgia went 1 down. Arizona also went 1 up.
400 Free Relay Texas' Karlee Bispo, Hee-jin Chang, Katie Riefenstahl and Kathleen Hersey finished prelims with a near meet-record time of 3:12.19 in the event. California set that standard with a 3:12.13 back in 2007.
Stanford's Kate Dwelley, Samantha Woodward, Betsy Webb and Julia Smit finished second in 3:12.32, while Georgia's Morgan Scroggy, Chelsea Nauta, Kelly McNichols and Courtney Monsees took third in 3:13.60.
Auburn (3:13.87), Arizona (3:14.12), California (3:14.70), Wisconsin (3:15.13) and Texas A&M (3:15.27) will also vie for the title this evening.
Minnesota (3:15.32), Tennessee (3:15.91), Virginia Tech (3:16.21), Virginia (3:16.50), LSU (3:16.96), SMU (3:16.99), Florida (3:17.55) and Michigan (3:18.35) will make up the consolation heat tonight.
Platform Diving IUPUI's Chen Ni topped preliminary qualifying on the tower with 340.30 points, while Texas' Jessica Livingston finished second with 332.75.
Texas' Shelby Cullinan (308.40), Ohio State's Katherine Bell (302.50), Florida's Kara Salamone (292.25), Ohio State's Kristen Asman (290.60), SMU's Audra Egenolf (288.10) and NC State's Kristin Davies (272.55) rounded out the championship final field.
Indiana's Christina Loukas (267.65), Stanford's Carmen Stellar (260.30), UCLA's Tess Schofield (247.80), Houston's Anastasia Pozdniakova (247.30), USC's Victoria Ishimatsu (243.45), Tennessee's Gabrielle Trudeau (239.80), Alabama's Carrie Dragland (235.90) and Florida's Monica Dodson (231.70) will complete in the consolation round.
Pozdniakova wound up winning consolations with a 263.15 tally. Schofield placed second in 262.70, while Loukas took third in 261.80. Ishimatsu (260.95), Trudeau (258.15), Stellar (254.20), Dragland (219.30) Dodson (214.05) finished up consols.
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March 21, 2009 I'm predicting AZ, CAL, and GA in that order based on the morning swims. CAL should win the relay, but AZ has superior depth. GA has some depth too but will probably finish behind the other two teams in the relay. Overall it should be pretty close though, especially for 2nd and 3rd!! Submitted by: liquidassets
March 21, 2009 I'm quite biased. But Cal is going to take this all the way. I've scored this out and if they place the how they're seeded (minus the relay, which the Bears will win), Cal wins by 12.5 over Arizona. Cal has earned this and deserves more respect and recognition! Submitted by: gobears15
March 21, 2009 Hmm, Arizona kind of deserved this. They would have won if it hadn't been for their DQ in the 200 Medley. Submitted by: swimmin'fool
March 21, 2009 Well winning is about mental toughness as well as talent and DQ'ing by false start usually involves a mental lapse by the swimmer on the block or in the pool or both. So Cal deserves it for toughing it out for 3 days and beating a talented AZ and GA squads.
I forgot about the 1650 when I made my prediction, but glad I was wrong as I was rooting for Cal. Yeah Golden Bears!! Submitted by: liquidassets
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