April 20, 2002
Oxford, Ohio - The Santa Clara Aquamaids swept all three final events, and claimed six ofnine medals on Saturday to win the club's 11th consecutive overall title atthe 2002 U.S. National Synchronized Swimming Championships in Oxford, Ohio.In the process, the Aquamaids won the club's 10th consecutive team title,while two-time Olympian Anna Kozlova moved into second place behind TracieRuiz-Conforto on the all-time solo gold chart with five solo nationaltitles.
Kozlova's free routine "Night on Bald Mountain" earned a 99.000 from thejudges to give her a 98.417 composite score. Kozlova led two-time solochampion Bill May by 0.167 following Thursday's technical routine. May's"Heartbeat" routine finished second with a composite total of 97.917.May regained his golden status by teaming with long-time partner KristinaLum for duet gold with a score of 98.167. The pair carried a technicalroutine lead of 0.083 into the final, which proved to be the differenceafter May and Lum's "Snake Charmer" routine tied Kozlova and Alison Bartosikin the free routine final swim.
Ohio's hometown favorite, Becky Jasontek of Loveland and partner Tracy Long,finished third at 96.250.
Santa Clara's "Chess" team routine featuring more than 50 pattern changesproved to be the hands-down favorite in the free routine final, earning afinal composite mark of 98.834. Walnut Creek, facing a one-point deficitafter the technical program, finished a close second at 97.167 with OhioState third at 95.584.
Swimming for Santa Clara were Bartosik, Tammy Crow, May, Kozlova, Sara Lowe,Lauren McFall, Andrea Nott and Kendra Zanotto.
Thursday's technical routine marks are weighted to 50 percent and combinedwith 50 percent of Friday's preliminary free routine to determine the eightfinalists in each event. In the final, the 50 percent free prelim score isreplaced with 50 percent of the final free routine score.
Top athletes now advance to the 2002 National Team Trials, May 3-5 in Columbus, Ohio.
Saturday's finals will be broadcast on a tape-delay basis on HDNet, a highdefinition satellite channel available on DirecTV and Dish Network.Complete results can be found at www.usasynchro.org.
Solo Final
1, Anna Kozlova, Santa Clara, 98.417. 2, Bill May, Santa Clara, 97.917. 3,Lauren McFall, Santa Clara, 95.500. 4, Carolina Moraes, Ohio State, 94.417.5, Tammy Crow, Santa Clara, 94.000. 6, Gina Pietras, Walnut Creek, 93.584.7, Alison Bartosik, Santa Clara, 92.667. 8, Sara Lowe, Santa Clara, 92.666.
Duet Final
1, Kristina Lum, Bill May, Santa Clara, 98.167. 2, Alison Bartosik, AnnaKozlova, Santa Clara, 98.084. 3, Becky Jasontek, Tracy Long, Walnut Creek,96.250. 4, Lauren McFall, Andrea Nott, Santa Clara, 95.917. 5, IsabelaMoraes, Carolina Moraes, Ohio State, 94.500. 6, Erin Dobratz, Katie Norris,Stanford, 93.751. 7T, Stephanie Nesbitt, Allison Wible, Riverside, 92.334.7T, Ashley McHugh, Gina Pietras, Walnut Creek, 92.333.
Team Final
1, Santa Clara A, 98.834. 2, Walnut Creek A, 97.167. 3, Ohio State A,95.584. 4, Riverside, 94.084. 5, Santa Clara B, 93.751. 6, Ohio State B,92.667. 7, Walnut Creek B, 92.500. 8, Univ. of Alabama-Birmingham, 90.917.