NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS: ‘The Usual Suspects’ Step Out in Front

ATHENS, Georgia, March 16. IF the first day of preliminaries is any indication, Georgia, Arizona and Auburn will be the teams to beat at the 2006 Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at the Gabrielsen Natatorium on the campus of the University of Georgia.

Through the first six events, Arizona qualified eight finalists while Auburn qualified seven swimmers or relay teams, and defending national champions Georgia had six qualifiers for today’s 7 p.m. finals. The “big three” were followed by Cal-Berkeley’s four qualifiers and Stanford’s three.

In Thursday’s first event – the 200-yard freestyle relay – Georgia’s team of Kara Lynn Joyce, Tricia Harm, Anna Miller and Jessica Cole finished first with a preliminary time of 1:28.47, which bettered the Gabrielsen Natatorium record of 1:28.94 set by Georgia in 1999 and paved the way for the Bulldogs to have a shot at winning their fifth consecutive 200-yard freestyle crown.

Georgia was followed by Arizona (which also topped the pool record with a time of 1:28.87), Auburn (1:29.91), Texas (1:30.41), SMU (1:30.36), Wisconsin (1:30.79), Michigan (1:30.84) and Texas A&M (1:30.94).

In the 500-yard freestyle, Auburn’s Adrienne Bender finished on top at 4:40.39, followed by Cal-Berkley’s Erin Reilly (4:41.51) and Ashley Chandler (4:41.52), SMU’s Flavia Rigamonti (4:41.65), Georgia’s Laura Conway (4:42.27), Auburn’s Hayley Peirsol (4:42.89) and Chelsea Haser (4:43.47), and Florida’s Caroline Burckle (4:43.69).

Arizona’s Whitney Myers turned in the top prelim time in the 200-yard individual medley at 1:57.19. She was followed by Georgia’s Harm (1:57.58), Auburn’s Emily Kukors (1:58.04), Georgia’s Mary Descenza (1:58.46), Stanford’s Kristen Caverly (1:58.95), Tennessee’s Megan Tomes (1:59.13), Winconsin’s Yi Ting Siow (1:59.23) and Auburn’s Julie Stupp (1:59.43).

Georgia’s Joyce began the defense of her 50-yard freestyle title by finishing first in Thursday’s preliminaries with a time of 21.73. She was followed by Kentucky’s Jenny Bradford (22.18), Arizona’s Lacey Nymeyer (22.20) and Courtney Cashion (22.31), Brooke Bishop of Stanford (22.32), Jenna Gresdal of Arizona (22.33), Texas A&M’s Aljand Triin (22.40) and Emily Silver of Cal-Berkeley (22.44).

In the 400-yard medley relay, Southern Cal’s foursome of Hayley McGregory, Rebecca Soni, Kristen Lahey and Rhiannon Jeffery finished first in a time of 3:35.44, followed by defending champion Georgia (3:35.66), Arizona (3:35.71), Cal-Berkeley (3:36.43), Auburn (3:37.35), Stanford (3:37.48), Texas (3:38.44) and Tennessee (3:38.87).

In the 1-meter diving prelims, which lasted well into Thursday afternoon, Southern Cal’s Blythe Hartley led the way with a score of 325.35, followed by top eight finishers Carrie McCambridge of Purdue (305.55), Allison Brennan of South Carolina (302.90), defending national champion Qiong Jie Huang of Hawaii (300.85), Kentucky’s Taryn Ignacio (299.75), Alabama’s Crystal Rasmussen (292.45) and Christina Loukas of Indiana (290.05).

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