WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (Mar. 19, 2005) ¨C The Penn State 400-yard freestyle relay team broke its own school record it had set earlier in the day to finish 13th with a time of 3 minutes, 21.86 seconds, and the Nittany Lions finished 13th with 87 points at the NCAA Women¡¯s Swimming and Diving Championships.
No. 1 Georgia ran away with the team title with 609.5 points to break Auburn¡¯s three-year championship run. The second-ranked Tigers finished second (492), Arizona was third (440), Florida was fourth (355) and Stanford took fifth (313).
Georgia became the first school in NCAA history to sweep the five relays during the championships.
The 13th place finish marks the best team finish in school history, right behind Penn State¡¯s 11th-place finish in 2001. The 89 points represent the third most points ever scored by the Nittany Lions during the championships. Penn State scored a school record 101 last year when it finished 15th, and it had 100 in 2001.
The freestyle relay team of senior Jennifer Eberst (Clifton Park, N.Y.), sophomore Lauren Preyss (Chagrin Falls, Ohio), senior Deirdre Dlugonski (Washington, Pa.) and senior Lauren Semchyshen (New Fairfield, Conn.) had broken the school record in the morning when it qualified 13th with a time of 3:22.26.
The 400 freestyle relay capped off a night of scoring that began with sophomores Claire Hawley (Barnstable, Mass.) and Erin Morris (Ft. Wayne, Ind.) finishing 12th and 13th, respectively, in the 1,650 freestyle. Hawley finished with her second best time of the year in 16:17.70, while Morris raced a personal-best 16:18.98. Sophomore Margy Keefe (Cincinnati, Ohio) just missed scoring in the same event when she finished in 17th in 16:23.13. Sophomore Nikki Collins (Carmel, Ind.) took 25th in 16:30.58, senior Meredith Holman (Inman, S.C.) finished 31st in 16:38.36, and sophomore Megan Palera (Santa Maria, Calif.) was 36th in 16:49.80.
Overall, 11 of the 15 student-athletes who represented Penn State garnered All-America status by finishing in the Top 16 at the NCAA Championships. They include junior Amberle Biedermann (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Dlugonski, Eberst, junior Sarah Haupt (Carlisle, Pa.), Hawley, Keefe, Morris, Preyss, senior Alison Riccobono (Ypsilanti, Mich.), Semchyshen and senior Kristen Woodring (Sinking Spring, Pa.).
For more information on Penn State men¡¯s and women¡¯s swimming and diving, please visit Penn State¡¯s official athletic website at www.GoPSUsports.com.
Head Coach Bill Dorenkott Quotes
Talking about the school¡¯s second best finish
¡°I suppose that with our second highest finish in school history I should be pleased, but instead I¡¯m pretty disappointed. We obviously had a good Big Ten Championship meet. I felt pretty strongly coming into this meet that a Top 10 finish was realistic. One of the things that I need to evaluate as a head coach is having our team better prepared for future NCAA Championships.¡±
Talking about the 400 freestyle relay
¡°That¡¯s a relay record that we¡¯ve been looking at for a bunch of years and thinking it was kind of a dog. To get that thing off the record boards was good. And for them to come back at night and break it again was good. Our freestyle relays over the past three or four years have been by committee. If we are going to be a serious presence at national meets, we¡¯ve got to get more depth at freestyle relay.¡±
Talking about having six swimmers in the 1,650 freestyle
¡°I give a lot of the credit for our success this year to our staff and the terrific job they do, and second to our kids¡¯ work ethic whether it¡¯s the 50 free or the 1,650 free. The fact that we qualified six individuals in the mile, had three of them place in the Top 20, and two of them score is a credit to those ladies and to assistant coach Ed Bartsch, and what he does with our distance crew.¡±
Talking about the outgoing seniors
¡°This group, especially this senior group, was probably a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. They¡¯ve brought us a long way in the four years that they¡¯ve been here, and they¡¯ve set some pretty high standards to live up to in the future. My hope is that they¡¯ve set the foundation for future success.¡±
NCAA Women¡¯s Swimming and Diving Championships (Saturday at West Lafayette, Ind.)
Final team scores: 1. Georgia, 609.5; 2. Auburn, 492; 3. Arizona, 440; 4. Florida, 355; 5. Stanford, 313; 9. Indiana, 112; 11. Wisconsin, 107; 13. Penn State, 87; 14. Michigan, 84; 17. Purdue, 59; 23. Iowa, 36; 32. Ohio State, 10; 39. Illinois, 1.
Event-by-Event Results (Top 3, and Penn State finishers)
1,650 Freestyle: 1. Flavia Rigamonti, SMU, 15:46.84 (Pool Record); 2. Hayley Peirsol, Auburn, 15:52.48; 3. Laura Conway, Georgia, 15:54.97; 12. Claire Hawley, Penn State, 16:17.70; 13. Erin Morris, Penn State, 16:18.98; 17. Margy Keefe, Penn State, 16:23.13; 25. Nikki Collins, Penn State, 16:30.58; 31. Meredith Holman, Penn State, 16:38.36; 36. Megan Palera, Penn State, 16:49.80.
200-yard Backstroke: 1. Kirsty Coventry, Auburn, 1:50.54 (Pool Record); 2. Margaret Hoelzer, Auburn, 1:52.14; 3. Jessica Hayes, Arizona, 1:54.56; 19. Erin Morris, Penn State, 1:58.15; 26. Sarah Haupt, Penn State, 1:59.08.
100-yard Freestyle: 1. Kara Lynn Joyce, Georgia, 47.50 (Pool Record); 2. Lacey Nymeyer, Arizona, 48.56; 3. Jana Kolukanova, Auburn, 48.71; 35. Lauren Preyss, Penn State, 50.33; 47. Deirdre Dlugonski, Penn State, 50.85.
200-yard Breaststroke: 1. Caroline Bruce, Stanford, 2:08.67 (Pool Record); 2. Anne Poleska, Alabama, 2:09.63; 3. Lindsey Ertter, Georgia, 2:09.97; 41. Courtney Stanchock, Penn State, 2:18.65; 44. Kristen Woodring, Penn State, 2:19.72.
200-yard Butterfly: 1. Mary Descenza, Georgia, 1:54.19 (Pool Record); 2. Emily Mason, Arizona, 1:54.79; 3. Kim Vandenberg, UCLA, 1:55.08; 41. Amberle Biedermann, Penn State, 2:02.72.
400-yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Georgia, 3:13.56 (Pool and Meet Record); 2. Auburn, 3:13.94; 3. Arizona, 3:14.30; 13. Penn State (Jennifer Eberst, Lauren Preyss, Deirdre Dlugonski, Lauren Semchyshen) 3:21.86 (School Record).
