Virginia’s Cara Lane, FSU’s Louie Gagnet Are ACC Performers of the Week

GREENSBORO, NC, November 11. VIRGINIA senior All-American distance freestyler-200 flyer Cara Lane, a native of Charlotte, N.C, and Florida State University diver Louie gagnet, have been named Atlantic Coast Conference Women's and Men's Swimming and Diving Performers of the Week.

The announcement was made today by the ACC office here.

Lane won a pair of events in helping the 10th-ranked Cavaliers defeat 16th-ranked Penn State, 127-114, Friday, Nov. 8 in State College, PA. The selection marks the seventh time Lane has garnered the ACC's weekly award during her brilliant career in Charlottesville.

In her first event of the meet against Penn State, Lane dominated the field in winning the 1650 freestyle with a time of 16:21.62 — more than 18 seconds faster than the runner-up. Her winning time was also an automatic qualifier for the 2003 NCAA Championships in March, and is the fastest time in the ACC this season by more than 12 seconds.

Lane won NCAA titles in the mile in 2000 and 2001 with her time from last season — 15:53.86 — not only fastest nationally for the year but also a UVA/ACC record and the sixth-fastest 1650 in NCAA history. Overall, Lane ranks 10th on the all-time performers' list and, in addition, has the 18th-fastest performance ever.

The 2000 and 2001 ACC Swimmer of the Year, Lane also won the 200 butterfly against the Nittany Lions with a 2:02.16. She holds the UVA record in this race (1:58.58) that won her the ACC title two years ago, and she ranks third all-time in the conference behind North Carolina's Kelly Weeks (1:58.01) and UNC's Melanie Buddemeyer's 1:58.04.

UVA coach Mark Bernardino, never one to allow Lane to "slack off" during big meets, has also had his star pupil swim the 500 at the ACC and NCAA Championships, and the Cav senior has responded with alacrity. She set the Virginia school-record (4:39.61) while taking third at last year's national collegiate championships in East Meadow, and ranks second on the all-time ACC list to former Clemson great Mitzi Kremer's 4:39.18 that won the NCAA gold in '89 at Indianapolis.

(Kremer and Lane are the only two ACC women ever to win NCAA freestyle titles.)

With its victory over Penn State, the Virginia women's swimming and diving team improved to 3-0 on the season. The 13th-ranked Cavalier men also ran their record to 3-0 with a 132-106 victory over the 14th-ranked Nittany Lions.

Florida State swimming and diving earned its first Atlantic Coast Conference award of the 2002-03 season with the announcement of Louie Gagnet as the Men’s ACC Swimming and Diving Performer of the Week.

Gagnet, a sophomore out of Mission Viejo, Calif., turned in a spectacular weekend of winning performances on the three- and one-meter springboards.

The 2002 ACC Most Valuable Diver, Gagnet shattered the previous FSU and Leach Center Pool records on the three-meter with a score of 380.92. The mark is tops in the ACC this year and surpasses the previous school record of 363.85, which Gagnet set as a freshman last year. In addition, Gagnet won the one-meter with the season’s second-best ACC mark of 312.75.

The Seminoles will return to action on Nov. 19, when they host rival Florida. The meet is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start at the Leach Center Pool.

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