March 16, 2006
Athens, Ga. - Stanford sits in fourth place at the conclusion of the first day of action Thursday at the 2006 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships being held at the Gabrielsen Natatorium on the campus of the University of Georgia. Brooke Bishop's third-place showing in the 50 free highlighted the Cardinal effort, while Kristen Caverly (200 IM, 6th) and Cassidy Krug (1-meter diving, 9th) also scored individual points. Stanford's 400 medley relay team finished sixth, while its 200 free relay squad won the consolation finals to place ninth overall and round out Stanford's scorers.
"This was a great night for us," said first-year Stanford head coach Lea Maurer. "We hope we can leave every session feeling as excited as we do today. We really stepped up tonight."
Arizona leads the team standings at the conclusion of the first day of the meet with 161 points. Auburn (151), defending champion and host Georgia (147), Stanford (82), California (79), USC (78), Texas (54), Wisconsin (52), SMU (50.5) and Kentucky (50) round out the Top 10.
Bishop's third-place 50 free finish was her best showing ever in an NCAA event and her time of 22.17 topped her previous personal-best of 22.32 that she recorded in the prelims earlier in the day. She remained Stanford's No. 3 all-time performer in the event after moving up three places into that spot with her prelims time, inching to within 0.16 seconds of Catherine Fox's school record of 22.01 posted in 1997.
"I knew that I could go that fast, but it was a really exciting feeling to look up and see it on the board," said Bishop. "There was a lot of energy and enthusiasm for that race. It was really fun."
"Brooke Bishop had some awesome performances today," added Maurer. "She stepped up to the plate and carried the team with two personal-bests, and we're relying on her for two more days."
Caverly's sixth-place finish in the 200 IM was tied for her best individual finish ever at the NCAA's, as well as her best in the event. The 2006 Pac-10 200 IM champion checked in with a time of 1:58.93 that was .39 seconds off the personal-best time of 1:58.54 she swam to win her first conference title last month.
The 400 medley relay squad of Bishop, Caverly, Dana Kirk and Madeline Rovira finished sixth with a time of 3:37.56. The same foursome had swum .08 seconds faster with a season-best time of 3:37.48 in the prelims when Bishop recorded a career-best 53.63 for the 100 back in her leadoff leg, moving her up two places to No. 5 Stanford's list of all-time top performers in the event.
Cassidy Krug finished ninth in the 1-meter diving prelims with 289.15 points. Krug's ninth-place showing is her best ever at the NCAA's as she just missed qualifying for the field that competed in Thursday night's finals by one spot, falling .90 points shy of the top eight.
Stanford won the consolation finals in the 200 free relay to finish ninth overall in the event. A team of Rovira, Bishop, Desiree Stahley and Kirk finished the race in a season-best time of 1:30.49 to comfortably beat its closest competitor Kentucky (1:31.23). The Stanford showing was also near the school record time of 1:30.05 set in 1999 and better than the bottom three teams in the championship finals that the Cardinal had missed out on qualifying for by one place and 0.15 seconds during the morning prelim session.
"Our performances in the relays today were a testimony to the Stanford tradition to be at your best when swimming for the team," explained Maurer.
Rovira swam a pair of identical personal-best times of 23.20 in the opening leg of the 200 free relay and the 50 free during the prelim session. She won the first heat of the 50 free prelims and finished 41st overall to cut in half the No. 82 seed she entered the race with as the final qualifier. Rovira knocked .21 seconds of her previous 50 free personal-best.
Laura Davis (32nd, 2:01.90) and Kirk (34th, 2:02.12) also competed for the Cardinal in the 200 IM prelims, while Stahley (44th, 4:53.52) and Elizabeth Durot (50th, 4:55.61) participated in the prelims of the 500 free.
Georgia's Kara-Lynn Joyce set American, NCAA, US Open and pool records in the 50 free to win the event with a time of 21.63.
Thursday's other individual event winners were Georgia's Laura Conway (500 free, 4:40.01), Arizona's Whitney Myers (200 IM, 1:54.88) and USC's Blythe Hartley (353.50) with Conway and Myers setting new pool records.
Arizona set four records with a key sweep of the relay events that propelled the Wildcats to the top spot in the team standings. In the meet-opening 200 free relay, Arizona notched US Open, NCAA and pool records when a team of Courtney Cashion, Jenna Gresdal, Anna Turner and Lacey Nymeyer clocked in with a time of 1:27.98. In the 400 medley relay, a foursome of Gresdal, Erin Sieper, Myers and Nymeyer recorded a 3:31.70 mark to set a new pool mark.
The three-day meet continues with eight events on the second day of action Friday when the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 3-meter diving and 800 free relay will be contested. Prelims begin at 11 am, ET/8 am, PT, while the finals session starts at 7 pm, ET/4 pm, PT.