March 19, 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - After a three-year abscence, the NCAA women's swimming and diving championship is coming back to Athens, Ga. The Bulldogs claimed their fourth crown, scoring 609.5 points, beating runner-up and archrival Auburn by 117.5 points. The Tigers final point count was 492 points.
The 609.5 points collected by UGA was its highest winning point total ever and the highest NCAA mark of the last 12 years; their previous high was 504.5, which they collected in 1999. The NCAA record for most points claimed by a team champion is 746, which Mark Schubert's Texas squad tallied in 1991.
Arizona was third with 440 points, Florida was fifth with 355 points and Stanford rounded out the top five with 313 points.
Clinching the meet for the Bulldogs was its absolute dominance of the relays, winning all five over the three-day span of the championships. Georgia completed the relay sweep Saturday night, edging out Auburn in the 400 free relay, 3:13.56 to 3:13.94. Georgia is the first team ever to win all five relays at one NCAA Championship.
Florida won four relays in 1988, taking all titles but the 200 free relay. Stanford in 1993 and Auburn in 2003 also won four of five championships. The Cardinal missed out on the 400 free relay title that season and in 2003 the Tigers lost to Georgia on the 200 free relay.
1,650 Freestyle
SMU's Flavia Rigamonti won her third 1,650 free title, recording a pool-record time of 15:46.84. The Swiss national also broke the pool record with her 1,000-yard split of 9:32.02, shattering the previous best of 9:42.61 set in 2003 by Wisconsin's Carly Piper. The senior Badger also held the 1,650 pool record, which used to be 16:02.61.
Rigamonti, who's time Saturday was ranked eighth on the all-time list, has won the last three mile races at NCAA's. In 2004, the race was coverted to the 1,500-meter freestyle because of the Olympics, and was claimed by USC's Kalyn Keller in 15:49.14.
Keller wound up in 24th place in the mile marathon at 16:29.81, while Piper finished fourth in 16:01.74.
Rigamonti dominated the last 3/4 of the race, passing Georgia's Laura Conway at about the 500-yard mark; Conway's lead over the Mustang lasted all of about 50 yards as both averaged 57.00 splits on their 100 free's during the first stages.
Conway lost another spot during the final lap of the race, as Auburn's Hayley Perisol passed her for second place, 15:52.48 to 15:54.97.
200 Backstroke
It was all about Auburn in the 200 back as Kirsty Coventry and Margaret Hoelzer finished first and second. Coventry's time of 1:50.54 is listed as the second fastest of all time behind Natalie Coughlin's 1:49.52; the Tiger's mark also broke her former pool record of 1:53.54 posted in prelims.
Coventry has now won four straight individual NCAA titles, including three at this year's meet. She won the 200 back at last year's NCAA meet in 2:03.86 (short-course meters) and has won both the 200 and 400 individual medley titles this season.
Hoelzer finished as the runner-up at 1:52.14 and the bronze medal went to Arizona's Jessica Hayes, who completed the course in 1:54.56. The third Tiger to score among the top eight was Jerri Moss, claiming seventh at 1:56.80.
Despite the dominance by Auburn in this event, Georgia still owned a commanding 453.5 to 415 lead over their SEC conference rivals and would build on that lead substantially as the meet continued.
100 Freestyle
Georgia's Kara Lynn Joyce won her second individual title of the weekend, claiming the 100 free championship with a pool record time of 47.50. The Bulldog's time is also listed as the third fastest of all-time.
Georgia has won this race the last four year's at NCAA's. Joyce was champion last year at Texas A&M with a short-course meter time of 53.15; the two years prior to that Maritza Correia won the title with times of 47.29 and 47.56.
After posting a prelim time of 48.81, Joyce was seeded in the second lane, but still managed to outdistance the competition from the start; the 2004 U.S. Olympian's 50 free split was marked at 23.17.
Freshman Lacey Nymeyer of Arizona was the runner-up in 48.56, and Auburn junior Jana Kolukanova was third in 48.71. This afternoon's prelim winner and former pool record holder Emily Silver of California was fourth with a near identical time of 48.73; the rookie's prelim time was listed at 48.72.
200 Breaststroke
Stanford freshman Caroline Bruce improved on her afternoon prelim time of 2:09.77 to make sure the Cardinal kept the 200 breast title in Palo Alto, Calif., for a fourth straight year. Bruce's winning time was clocked at 2:08.66 and her 100-yard split was listed at 1:01.04.
Stanford'sTara Kirk captured the last three 100 breast titles dating back to 2002. Kirk's winning time in 2002 of 2:07.36 is still an NCAA/Anmerican record.
The rookie's time, which is the fifth fastest of all time, gave Bruce her second championship of this weekend's meet. Bruce also won the 100 breast title last night in 59.55.
The battle for second place was won by Alabama senior Anne Poleska, who edged Georgia senior Lindsey Ertter, 2:09.63 to 2:09.97.
200 Butterfly
Georgia's Mary DeScenza extended her reign in the 200 fly to a third straight year, winning this year's title with a pool record of 1:54.19, breaking her own record of 1:54.83 from earlier this afternoon. DeScenza was also this year's champion in the 100 fly (52.11) and has been part of UGA's victorious 800, 400 free and 200 and 400 medley relay teams.
The race began with DeScenza joined by Stanford's Dana Kirk and Arizona's Emily Mason as the three swam neck and neck, hitting around 25 seconds at the 50-yard mark. Kirk momentarily grabbed the lead at the halfway point, but DeScenza retook the lead with 50 yards left to go, and began to pull away in a hurry.
Mason finished as the runner-up in 1:54.79 and Kim Vandenberg of UCLA was the bronze-medal winner at 1:55.08. Kirk faded into fifth place over the last lap and clocked a time of 1:56.14. Fourth place belonged to Arizona sophomore Whitney Myers, who touched the wall at 1:56.60.
The Bulldog victory, combined with a sixth-place showing by Katie Yevak extended UGA's lead over Auburn to well over 100 points, 569.5 to 457.
Platform Diving
The platform tower competition was won by Indiana's Cassandra Cardinell, who scored 501.45 points. The Hoosier clinched the competition on her final dive, receiving a judge's score of 81.60. Her previous four dives of the finals were 74.25, 72.00, 66.00 and 33.60.
Second place went to Houston's Anna Kiess with 478.95 points. Kiess led through the first three rounds before Cardinell cought fire in rounds four and five. Blythe Hartley of USC, last night's champ off the 3-meter and runner-up off the 1-meter, placed fifth with 448.35 points.
Purdue's Carrie McCambridge took seventh with 417.65 points, and was the only diver other than Hartley to score among the top eight off all three diving boards. She also is Boilermaker's leader with three All-American titles; swimmers Darlene Warta (Renie) and Kim Fritsch won two All-American titles each in the 200 butterfly in the late 80's and early 90's.
400 Freestyle Relay
Georgia made history in becoming the first team ever to win all five relay events at one NCAA Championship. The Bulldogs and Auburn Tigers were close most of the race, but Georgia pulled ahead on the final leg thanks to Amanda Weir's 100-yard split of 47.72. Auburn's Kirsty Coventry could not keep up as she completed her leg in 48.06.
Georgia's final time was clocked at 3:13.56 an NCAA meet and pool record time. The Bulldogs time eclipsed their own mark of 3:13.71, which they posted at the 2002 NCAA Championships.
Joyce led off the relay with a 100-yard split of 48.02, then Paige Kearns followed with a 49.08 and DeScenza posted a leg three split of 48.74. Comparitively, Auburn's splits were: Jana Kolukanova, 48.87; Margarte Hoelzer, 48.45; Emily Kukors, 48.56.
Georgia has won this race the last two years at NCAA's, and four of the last six years. Their winning time last season at Texas A&M was 3:35.14 (short-course meters).
NCAA Meet Records Broken
400 Freestyle Relay - Georgia (Joyce, Kearns, DeScenza, Weir) - 3:13.56
Pool Records Broken
1,650 freestyle - Flavia Rigamonti - SMU - 15:46.84
1,000 freestyle - Flavia Rigamonti - SMU - 9:32.02 (Mile split)
200 Backstroke - Kirsty Coventry - Auburn - 1:50.54
200 Breaststroke - Caroline Bruce - Stanford - 2:09.77
200 Butterfly - Mary DeScenza - Georgia - 1:54.19
400 Freestyle Relay - Georgia (Joyce, Kearns, DeScenza, Weir) - 3:13.56
Flavia Rigamonti, SMU - 1650 freestyle
"It feels good to win. When you have had a really hard year like I have, you appreciate the victory so much more. This is a tough race, and it hurt to win. Maybe I can convince my coach to put me in the 50 next year."
Kirsty Coventry, Auburn - 200 backstroke
"The race went well. I've been teammates with Margaret Hoelzer since freshman year, so it was nothing new going head-to-head against her. It hurt to win. For the last five meters, I was really ready for the wall. I'm just so happy to go out on a good note."
Kara Lynn Joyce, Georgia - 100 freestyle
"I have a few gold medals already, but it's still a good feeling to win. I didn't have a very good swim at the prelims, so I was happy with this performance. I'm just doing all I can to score points so we can wrap things up and win a national championship as a team tonight."
Caroline Bruce, Stanford - 200 breaststroke
"Before the race, my coach told me to hold back a little bit. But I went out hard anyway. Maybe I started a bit fast, but I guess it wasn't too fast. I really didn't want to have anything left after this race. And that's how I feel right now."
Mary Descenza, Georgia - 200 butterfly
"The race wasn't as fast as I would have liked, but a win's a win. It's been a hard three days of competing, and I really feel I've done my part for the team victory."
Cassandra Cardinell, Indiana - platform diving
"I really enjoy platform diving. Today was fun, and I soaked up all the cheering. This gave me a chance to show off all the hard work I have put in over the years. After my first dive, I was a little psyched out, but I refocused and did what I had to do to win."
Georgia, 400 freestyle relay
(Kara Lynn Joyce, Paige Kearns, Mary Descenza and Amanda Weir) Descenza: "The relay was very emotional for us. We are the only team in history to earn five wins in the relays, and I was on four of them. I'm just so amazed and proud of the other girls."
Georgia head coach Jack Bauerle
"This is really a great team and the best team, point-wise, that Georgia has ever had. I'm just so proud. We won all five relays, and that's never been done before. That earned us 200 points and was the biggest part of our victory. On Day 1, we started out great and kept rolling through the whole meet."
CSCAA Awards
Swimmer of the Meet: Kristy Coventry, Auburn
Swimming Coach of the Meet: Jack Bauerle, Georgia
Diver of the Meet: Blythe Hartley, USC
Diving Coach of the Meet: Dr. Jeff Huber, Indiana
TEAM SCORING
1) GEORGIA 609.5 21) ALABAMA 44 2) AUBURN 492 22) MARYLAND 40 3) ARIZONA 440 23) IOWA 36 4) FLORIDA 355 24) TENNESSEE 32 5) STANFORD 313 24) NOTRE DAME 32 6) TEXAS 218 26) VIRGINIA 21 7) S.M.U. 170 27) MIAMI - FLORIDA 19 8) CALIFORNIA 149 28) RICHMOND 15.5 9) INDIANA 112 29) RUTGERS 13 10) SOUTHERN CAL. 108 30) VIRGINIA POLYTEC 12 11) WISCONSIN 107 31) FLORIDA STATE 11 12) ARIZONA STATE 90 32) OHIO STATE 10 13) PENN. STATE 87 33) CINCINNATI 9 14) TEXAS A&M 84 34) CLEMSON 6 14) MICHIGAN 84 34) SOUTH CAROLINA 6 16) HAWAII 68 36) HARVARD 4 17) PURDUE 59 36) NORTHWESTERN 4 18) UCLA 52 38) NEW MEXICO 2 18) KENTUCKY 52 39) ILLINOIS 1 20) HOUSTON 47
INDIVIDUAL HIGH POINT: 1) COVENTRY, KIRSTY SR AUBURN 60 2) BRUCE, CAROLINE FR STANFORD 56 3) JOYCE, KARA LYNN SO GEORGIA 55 4) HOELZER, MARGARET SR AUBURN 54 4) MASON, EMILY SR ARIZONA 54 6) DESCENZA, MARY JR GEORGIA 53 7) HARTLEY, BLYTHE SOUTHERN CAL. 51 8) MYERS, WHITNEY SO ARIZONA 49 9) RETRUM, LEAH SO FLORIDA 45 9) GRESDAL, JENNA JR ARIZONA 45 11) McCambridge, Carrie PURDUE 43 12) WEIR, AMANDA FR GEORGIA 42 13) HUANG, QIONG JIE HAWAII 35 14) RIGAMONTI, FLAVIA JR S.M.U. 34 14) CONWAY, LAURA JR GEORGIA 34 14) HAYES, JESSICA SR ARIZONA 34 17) UNDERWOOD, NANCILEA IOWA 33 17) LOUKAS, CHRISTINA INDIANA 33 17) PIPER, CARLY SR WISCONSIN 33 17) ERTTER, LINDSEY SR GEORGIA 33 17) BURCKLE, CAROLINE FR FLORIDA 33 17) KUKORS, EMILY FR AUBURN 33