Women’s NCAA Div. 1 Champs, Day 3 Finals: Bruce Defeats Field Of Olympians To Capture 200 Breast

By Dan Mihalik

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, March 19. IN a race of Olympic proportions, Caroline Bruce stood above her Olympic brethren in the 200 breaststroke final.

The Stanford freshman set a pool record and swam the fifth fastest race of all-time, touching the wall in 2:08.67. Anne Poleska of Alabama, a German Olympian who won bronze in Athens, finished the race in second place, almost a full second behind Bruce.

Georgia senior Lindsey Ertter finished in third place with a time of 2:09.97, while SEC rival Vipa Bernhardt was fourth. Texas’ Elizabeth Tinnon, the second seeded swimmer coming into the final, fell to fifth place, while Arizona State’s Agnes Kovacs moved up two places to finish in sixth. Kovacs was the 2000 Olympic champ in the 200 breast.

Jessica Botzum of Virginia Tech finished in seventh place while Wisconsin junior Amalia Sarnecki finished in eighth.

EVENT: 18 WOMEN's 200 Yard BREASTSTROKE

NCAA Record: 2:07.36 TARA KIRK STANFORD 2002
AMERICAN Record: 2:07.36 TARA KIRK STANFORD 2002
US OPEN Record: 2:07.36 TARA KIRK STANFORD 2002
POOL RECORD: 2:12.90 KELLI STEIN MICHIGAN 2003
QUALIFYING FOR "A" CUT: 2:14.25

RESULTS of FINALS

RANK NAME YEAR TEAM PRELIM TIME

CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

1) BRUCE, CAROLINE FR STANFORD 2:09.77 2:08.67**
:29.20 :32.64 :32.95 :33.88
** POOL RECORD:
2) POLESKA, ANNE SR ALABAMA 2:11.74 2:09.63
:29.55 :33.49 :33.23 :33.36
3) ERTTER, LINDSEY SR GEORGIA 2:12.59 2:09.97
:30.24 :33.47 :32.73 :33.53
4) BERNHARDT, VIPA JR FLORIDA 2:12.37 2:10.44
:29.73 :32.73 :33.53 :34.45
5) TINNON, ELIZABETH SO TEXAS 2:11.71 2:10.97
:29.63 :32.93 :34.02 :34.39
6) KOVACS, AGNES SR ARIZONA STATE 2:12.86 2:11.49
:30.21 :33.28 :33.79 :34.21
7) BOTZUM, JESSICA FR VIRGINIA POLYTEC 2:12.67 2:12.34
:30.29 :33.22 :33.59 :35.24
8) SARNECKI, AMALIA JR WISCONSIN 2:12.61 2:12.52
:30.39 :33.55 :33.79 :34.79

CONSOLATION FINAL

9) CAVERLY, KRISTEN JR STANFORD 2:13.07 2:11.13
:30.26 :33.41 :33.83 :33.63
10) POEWE, SARAH JR GEORGIA 2:13.64 2:12.13
:29.09 :33.41 :34.38 :35.25
11) CLARK, CORRIE SR S.M.U. 2:12.92 2:12.43
:29.58 :33.78 :34.08 :34.99
12) KLEIN, MELISSA SO GEORGIA 2:13.35 2:12.50
:30.74 :33.21 :34.25 :34.30
13) AVILLA, LEAH SO TEXAS 2:13.33 2:13.19
:30.12 :33.33 :34.67 :35.07
14) COMMANDER, SHANTEL JR KENTUCKY 2:14.16 2:13.93
:30.98 :33.84 :34.24 :34.87
15) PANGILINAN, JACKIE FR HARVARD 2:14.91 2:13.98
:30.51 :33.51 :34.84 :35.12
16) GRAHAM, LAURA JR KENTUCKY 2:14.63 2:14.16
:30.63 :33.80 :34.92 :34.81

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