March 21, 2008

Virginia Tech's Smith Breaks 10-Year-Old ACC Record in the 50 Free

COLUMBUS, Ohio - After winning both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle titles at the ACC Championships back in February, Sara Smith (Jr., McGaheysville, Va.) broke the 10-year-old conference record in the 50 free to help put Virginia Tech in 26th-place after day one of the 2008 Women's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Ohio State's McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.

Virginia Tech currently has seven points after Smith finished 16th in the 50 free final for one point and the team of Smith, Jessica Botzum (Sr., Raleigh, N.C.), Jordan McHorney (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Megan Newell (Ashburn, Va.) placed 14th-overall in the 400 medley relay for six points to earn All-American honorable mention honors. Tech was the lone ACC member to have swimmers represented in Thursday night's finals as Georgia Tech and Miami only had divers reach the 1-meter final. Arizona leads the team competition with 151 points, while Auburn (132) and California (89) are in second and third, respectively.

Viola Places Seventh In One-Meter Finals at NCAA Championships

COLUMBUS, Ohio - University of Miami sophomore diver Brittany Viola opened the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships with a seventh place finish of 296.00 in the one-meter finals Thursday at Ohio State University's McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.

After qualifying with another seventh place finish in the afternoon's preliminary round, Viola earned her Top 10 finish in the finals with scores of 57.20, her highest mark of the day, 33.60, 49.40, 48.75, 49.45 and 57.60 in her six final dives to pick up 12 points.

She had placed seventh out of a field of 40 in the prelims with a score of 281.85, opening the trials with a strong 54.60, followed by marks of 46.80, 42.90, 41.25, 48.30 and 48.00 her next five dives.

Duke's Twichell Competes In 500 Free At NCAA Championships

DURHAM, N.C. - Freshman Ashley Twichell began competition at the 2008 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday, held at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion and hosted by The Ohio State University, as the Fayetteville, N.Y., native competed in the 500 freestyle.

Twichell placed 26th in the event with a mark of 4:45.40, which was four spots in front of her seeded time, as she was ranked 30th heading into the race.

The NCAA Championships will run through Saturday, March 22, with the 200 free event set for Friday and the 1650 free race set for Saturday.

Krimm Leads Jackets On Day 1 Of NCAA Championships

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Sophomore Hannah Krimm finished 15th on the one-meter springboard to lead Georgia Tech on the first day of competition at the NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships held Thursday the at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the campus of Ohio State University. Krimm registered 273.05 points in prelims and then 267.15 in finals.

"Today was a good opportunity to get our feet wet," head coach Stu Wilson said. "It was a great experience just to be out there against some of the top swimmers and divers in the nation and I think we are looking good for the rest of the meet with our best events still to come."

Senior Stephanie England also competed in the one-meter event and registered 244.20 points in prelims. Senior Elizabeth Stowe clocked a 4:57.21 time in prelims of the 500-free, while sophomore Agatha Kwasnik finished the 50-free in 22.97.

Four Tar Heels Compete At NCAA Swimming Championships

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Four Tar Heel women's swimmers competed Thursday morning at the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at Ohio State University. Whitney Sprague had the highest finish of all Tar Heels as she finished 18th in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:44.29.

Other Tar Heel finishers Thursday were Katura Harvey who placed 40th in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:48.01, Alison Clemens who placed 48th in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:02.17 and Kelsey Morrissy who placed 29th in the 50-yard freestyle at 22.83.

Four Tar Heels will compete on Friday in the Championships as Sprague, Harvery and Morrissy will all swim in the 200-yard freestyle and Clemens will swim in the 100-yard breaststroke.

NC State's Davies Wraps Up First Day at NCAA Championships

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Kristin Davies wrapped up her first day at the NCAA Championships, hosted by Ohio State, on Thursday, March 20. The junior from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, scored a 233.75 for 33rd in the 1-meter dive prelims.

Davies will compete in the 3-meter dive tomorrow, Friday, March 21, as well as the platform dive on Saturday, March 22.

Virginia Competes on First Day of NCAA Championships

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Virginia women's swimming team competed well on day one of the 2008 NCAA Championships, closing out with a solid performance in the 400 medley relay. The event is being held at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the Ohio State campus.

Mei Christensen, Megan Evo, Liz Shaw and Stephanie Glover teamed up to post a time of 3:39.71, besting the previous team season-best time by four seconds.

In the other relay of the day, Kristen Wallace, Jessica Lewis, Glover and Hannah Davis also narrowly missed the finals, swimming a time of 1:31.04 in the 200 free relay. Their 18th-place time was also the fastest time of the 2007-08 season for the Cavaliers.