March 23, 2002
Brazilian Olympians Carolina and Isabela Moraes ended their senior season in style by helping the Ohio State Buckeyes to the school's 22nd overall title at the U.S. Collegiate Synchronized Swimming Championships in Norton, Mass. In the process, the pair that finished 12th in the 2000 Olympic Games for Brazil also earned their fourth consecutive duet and trio gold medals. The Buckeye twins utilized lengthy underwater hybrids to win duet gold with a final score of 96.333. Stanford's Erin Dobratz and Lindsey Wigginton - both members of the U.S. National Team program - finished second at 95.000. The Moraes teamed up with Mary Hofer of Spring Valley, Calif. to win the trio's fourth Collegiate gold with a score of 97.333. Stanford's top trio of Dobratz, Wigginton and Norris finishd a point back at 96.333. Carolina Moraes and Stanford's Norris created a first occurrence of their own in the sport of synchronized swimming. Moraes and Norris earned a perfect tie of 95.833 in the solo final to share the event's gold medal. Norris led in technical merit by two-tenths, but Moraes led in artistic impression by two-tenths. In routine scoring, technical merit is weighted to 50 percent, and artistic impression to 50 percent. When the math was completed, both athletes earned gold.
The unprecedented, and previously impossible, tie is due to new scoring rules affecting the balance of technical merit and artistic impression score weighting instituted by FINA, the sport's international governing body, in July of 2001. Under the old rules, the technical merit score would have taken precedence had a tie occurred. In that situation, Norris would have captured the gold and Moraes the silver.
There was no tie in the team event, however, with Ohio State capturing gold with a score of 98.167. Swimming for Ohio State were Hofer, Victoria Bowen, Suzanna Hyatt, Kim Lester, Isabela Moraes, Beth Kreimer, Lauren Marsh, and Kristin Price.
The overall title is Ohio State's third consecutive, and 22nd overall title in the 26th year of the championships. Top athletes now advance to the U.S. National Championships and 2002 U.S. National Team Trials, April 18-20 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Host Wheaton (Mass.) College's Beth Percy finished a strong fifth in the solo final with a score of 88.333. The sophomore from St. Louis teamed with fellow St. Louis native Jamie Sallier for eighth in duet with a mark of 85.834. Wheaton was the only Division III University among a host of Division I schools to qualify for the finals in any event.
Wheaton's "Batman" routine finished eighth in the team final with a mark of 87.750. Swimming for Wheaton was Percy, Sallier, Blair Feldman, Bevin Hughes, Elizabeth Maga, Jamie Olken, and Emily Padow.
More than 200 athletes from 22 universities were on hand competing for collegiate national titles in the solo, duet, trio and team events. The championships are an open-class meet, combining competition for NCAA Divisions I, II and III, plus NAIA schools.
2002 U.S. Collegiate
Synchronized Swimming Championships
Final Results
Solo Final
1T, Katie Norris (Stanford) 95.833.
1T, Carolina Moraes (Ohio State) 95.833.
3, Bogdana Zareva (UAB) 94.833.
4, Jill Wright (Canisius) 89.833.
5, Beth Percy (Wheaton) 88.333.
6, Katie Rozofsky (Florida) 86.833.
7, Lindsay Kaufmann (Iowa) 86.334.
8, Inga Todd (Keuka) 85.500.
Duet Final
1, Carolina Moraes, Isabela Moraes (Ohio State) 96.333.
2, Erin Dobratz, Lindsey Wigginton (Stanford) 95.000.
3, Stephanie Joukoff, Jennifer Kibler (Stanford) 91.666.
4, Amanda Haeuser, Bogdana Zareva (UAB) 91.167.
5, Jennifer Holmquist, Stacy Leiker (UAB) 90.000.
6, Alexandra Pinango, Gabriella Pinango (Canisius) 89.000.
7, Jennifer Arenz, Sally Winchester (Washington) 86.333.
8, Beth Percy, Jamie Sallier (Wheaton) 85.834.
Trio Final
1, Mary Hofer, Carolina Moraes, Isabela Moraes (Ohio State) 97.333.
2, Erin Dobratz, Katie Norris, Lindsey Wigginton (Stanford) 96.333.
3, Stephanie Joukoff, Jennifer Kibler, Shella Sadovnik (Stanford) 93.666.
4, Victoria Bowen, Suzanna Hyatt, Beth Kreimer (Ohio State) 92.833.
5, Luna Aguilu, Jennifer Holmquist, Stacy Leiker (UAB) 91.667.
6, Alexandra Pinango, Gabriella Pinango, Jill Wright (Canisius) 89.167.
7, Ruth Ashburn, Laura Gellin, Kate Matusiak (Canisius) 86.667.
8, Lauren Gustafson, Laura Mase, Schyler Reese (Richmond) 85.166.
Team Final
1, Ohio State, 98.167.
2, Stanford, 97.334.
3, Ohio State B, 95.333.
4, UAB A, 95.167.
5, Canisius A, 92.667.
6, UAB B, 89.917.
7, Canisius B, 85.583.
8, Wheaton, 87.750.
Final Overall Standings
1. Ohio State 99
2. Stanford 92
3. UAB 73
4. Canisius 65
5. Wheaton 47.5
6. Richmond 41.5
7. Keuka 28.5
8. Florida 26
9. Arizona 24.5
10. William & Mary 21
11. Iowa 18
12. Washington 17.5
13T. Carleton 13.5
13T. Pennsylvania 13.5
15. Minnesota 12
16. Incarnate Word 9
17. Boston 7
18. Cornell 6.5
19. Penn State 6
20. Mary Washington 5
21. Michigan 3
22. Rhode Island 0.5
Special Award Recipients
All-American (Top 14 individuals overall [two athletes tied this year, thus 15], must be U.S. citizen)
Stanford: Katie Norris, Erin Dobratz, Lindsey Wigginton, Jennifer Kibler, Stephanie Joukoff, Shella Sadovnik
Ohio State: Mary Hofer, Victoria Bowen, Beth Kreimer, Suzanna Hyatt, Kristin Price
UAB: Stacy Leiker, Amanda Haeuser, Jessica Brown
Canisius: Jill Wright
All-Collegiate (Top 3 individuals per Division I, II & NAIA, III, Club)
NCAA Div. I - Carolina Moraes (OSU), Isabela Moraes (OSU), Katie Norris (Stanford)
NCAA Div. II & NAIA -Esther Calderon (Walsh), Mollie Mallon (Walsh), Shea Driscoll (Walsh)
NCAA Div. III - Beth Percy (Wheaton), Inga Todd (Keuka), Emily Brewer (Keuka)
Club - Lauren Gustafson (Richmond), Laura Mase (Richmond), Kim Marsh (William & Mary)
Collegiate Athlete of the Year - Lindsay Kaufmann, University of Iowa
Collegiate Coach of the Year - Linda Witter, Ohio State
2002 Collegiate Contributor Award - Mary Kay Adams, Wheaton
Mary Jo Ruggieri Scholarship - Lindsay Kaufmann, University of Iowa
R&R Sports Academy Scholarship - Lauren Marsh, Ohio State University