AZ wins 800 FR, Culpepper takes 3m Diving

800 Free Relay
On paper, it looked as if Arizona had the talent and the depth to win the 800 free relay. For once at this exciting NCAA championship meet, an event ran to form. The Wildcat team of Trina Jackson, Sarah Tolar, Jenny Vanker and Emily Mastin stroked to a win in a very fast 7:55.51, more than three seconds ahead of a surprising Wisconsin team in second (7:58.87), followed by Auburn in third (7:59.53).
Jackson trailed Auburn’s Rada Own (1:59.42) by four-hundredths at the end of the first 200 meters, but after that it was all Wildcats. Tolar took the lead on the relay exchange and opened up a big lead with her 1:57.29 split. Jamie Belfor and Ellen Stonebraker brought Wisconsin from sixth to second, but they were unable to overtake the Cats’ Vanker (2:00.77) and Mastin (1:57.99).
Georgia’s anchorwoman, Maritza Correia, who won the 200, had the fastest split, 1:57.22.
Stanford was fourth, followed by Georgia, SMU, Teas and Virginia.

3-meter Springboard Diving
Louisiana State’s Ashley Culpepper rallied from fourth place after the preliminary dives to win her second NCAA diving title in two days, taking the 3-meter platform title with a total of 538.25 points, more than 13 points ahead of Sara Reiling of Indiana (525.10). Erin Sones of Stanford was third (522.10), followed by Miami’s Jenny Keim (518.60). USC’s Kellie Brennan was fifth (500.85), followed by Emily Spychala of Miami (495.80), Alabama’s Lane Bassham (494.80) and Michigan State’s Carly Weiden (472.75).

Team Scores at the end of Day 2:

1. Georgia 336.5
2. Arizona 299
3. Stanford 245
4. Cal 235.5
5. Auburn 169
6. USC 140
7. Northwestern 129.5
8. UCLA 113
8. Virginia 113
10. Texas 102

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