Auburn Makes Move During Third Preliminary Session at Women’s Division I NCAAs

By Jason Marsteller

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, March 10. THE defending champion Auburn University Tigers made a serious move during the final day of preliminary competition at the women's NCAA Division I Championships in Minneapolis, Minn. The Tigers qualified five swimmers to championship finals and seven to consolation finals, while Arizona put four into A finals and three into B finals.

Scoring preliminary action as if all swimmers placed the same, Auburn cut Arizona's 32-point lead down five or six points. That is without counting four distance milers and one platform diver still to compete for Auburn. Meanwhile, Arizona only have one 1650 swimmer to go in prelims without a platform diver. Arizona is going to have to swim lights out tonight to overcome the mounting Auburn tidal wave.

200 backstroke
Auburn will pick up some important points in the 200 back as the Tigers qualified one up and four down in the event. Auburn's Melissa Marik garnered the final championship heat transfer spot with an eighth-place time of 1:55.98. Margo McCawley (10th/1:56.16), Julianne McLane (11th/1:56.22), Rachel Goh (14th/1:56.67) and Emile Ewing (15th/1:56.87) will also compete for Auburn in the consolation heat.

The Wildcats went one up and one down as Caitlin Iversen clocked the fourth-fastest time of 1:55.07 and Andrea Boritzke placed 12th with a 1:56.50.

Florida's Gemma Spofforth touched first in 1:54.42, while Texas A&M's Kristen Heiss placed second in 1:54.45 and Florida's Leah Retrum, coming off a year-long swimming hiatus due to an injury, qualified third in 1:54.91.

The rest of the championship final will be comprised of Stanford's Julia Smit (1:55.24), Georgia's Aleksandra Putra (1:55.67) and Florida State's Romy Altmann (1:55.69).

100 freestyle
Georgia's Kara Lynn Joyce will look to join Stanford's Jenny Thompson (1992-95) as the only four-time winners of the 100 free after posting the second-best time of the morning in 47.75.

Meanwhile, in the team title picture, Arizona went one up, one down, while Auburn put two up. Arizona's Lacey Nymeyer clocked a pool-record time of 47.50 for the top spot, while teammate Anna Turner finished 10th in 49.06. Auburn's Kara Denby (48.04) and Emily Kukors (48.77) finished fourth and sixth, respectively.

California's Emily Silver (47.94), Michigan's Lindsey Smith (48.72), Georgia's Jessica Cole (48.81) and Virginia Tech's Sara Smith (48.87) will make up the rest of the big final.

200 breaststroke
Arizona went one up, one down again, as Auburn put two into the B final of the 200 breast.

Jaquelyn Craft of Arizona placed fifth with a time of 2:11.35, while teammate Annie Chandler finished 10th in 2:12.50. For Auburn, Julie Stupp took 12th with a time of 2:12.70, while Alicia Jensen placed 15th in 2:13.83. In a development that might hurt Auburn in the end, Nanou Amardeilh was disqualified after recording a time of 2:12.89 that would have put her into the consolation heat. The disqualification came from performing a dolphin kick before initiating her pull after the turn, according to officials at the meet.

Wisconsin's Yi Ting Siow posted the fastest time with a 2:09.95, while Southern California's Rebecca Soni (2:10.25), Virginia Tech's Jessica Botzum (2:10.87), Stanford's Caroline Bruce (2:10.96), Texas' Elizabeth Tinnon (2:11.64) and Alexi Spann (2:11.74) and Florida Atlantic's Elle Weberg (2:11.84) will join the top eight.

200 butterfly
Auburn kept up a strong day with two up and one down in the 200 fly. Kristen Hastrup placed third in 1:55.23, while Ava Ohlgren touched seventh in 1:56.32. Teammate Tawnie Bethune earned a spot in consolations with a 10th-place 1:57.93. Arizona's Whitney Myers took fifth for the Wildcats' only qualifier in 1:56.16.

Stanford's Elaine Breeden topped prelims with a pool-record time of 1:54.24, while California's Dana Vollmer (1:55.19), Erin Reilly (1:55.83), and Rachel Ridgeway (1:56.44) and Oregon State's Saori Haruguchi (1:56.23) will also compete for the title.

400 freestyle relay
Auburn's team of Kara Denby, Melissa Marik, Emile Ewing and Emily Kukors clocked a pool record time of 3:14.83 for the top time, while California's foursome of Emily Silver, Erin Reilly, Jessica Hardy and Dana Vollmer placed second in 3:14.95. Georgia's quartet of Jessica Cole, Anna Miller, Kelly McNichols and Kara Lynn Joyce touched third in 3:16.63, while Arizona's contingent of Lindsey Kelly, Taylor Baughman, Lara Jackson and Lacey Nymeyer grabbed fourth in 3:16.63.

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