March 8, 2007
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Minneapolis, Minn. - Cassidy Krug captured her first national title with a dramatic victory in the 1-meter diving competition and Stanford is in the third place in the team standings at the conclusion of the first day of action Thursday at the 2007 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. Krug narrowly defeated second-place Christina Loukas by 1.20 points, surpassing the Indiana diver in the final round. Krug is the first 1-meter diving champ in Stanford history and the first Stanford women's diver to win a national title in any diving event since Erin Sones captured the platform in 2001.
"It was so exciting I could hardly breathe," said Krug about the close competition. "Christina is such a good diver and every dive was such a good contest. It is the best I have ever competed at Stanford, so it was so exciting to do."
"Cassidy was pretty conservative in the prelims, but we had a pretty good meeting and talked about it, and she came out firing on all cylinders in the finals," added Stanford head diving coach Dr. Rick Schavone. "She was better than she has been all year and that's what she needed to win. It's what we've been working for all year, and she was as tough and competitive as I've seen her."
"It was awesome," added Stanford head women's swimming coach Lea Maurer. "We were all cheering and were very happy for her. Everyone knows how hard she's worked and she is performing. It reminds us it's in there in all of us, and we just have to let it out."
Arizona leads the meet after six of 21 events with 168 points and is followed in the Top 10 by defending champion Auburn (155), Stanford (123.5), California (98), Georgia (86), Texas A&M (82.5), Florida (61), Michigan (57), Texas (54) and Kentucky (54).
"We're in the hunt," explained Maurer. "We just need a few more people to sneak into the finals sessions. We're in a good position for the first day and tomorrow is a huge day for us. We need to try to make sure we have good performances and get second swims. We're moving up and making a difference."
Stanford also had two of the top five finishers in the 200 IM as Julia Smit (1:56.43) and Elaine Breeden (1:58.03) placed third and fifth, respectively.
Brooke Bishop was fifth in the 50 free in a time of 22.17 that equaled her personal-best.
Stanford was third in the 400 medley relay in a season-best time of 3:34.86 with a foursome of Smit (53.95, 100 back split), Caroline Bruce (1:00.33, 100 breast split), Breeden (51.92, 100 fly split) and Bishop (48.66, 100 free split).
In the 200 free relay, Stanford took fifth in a time of 1:29.57 with a team of Smit (22.39), Breeden (22.36), Fiona O'Donnell-McCarthy (23.02) and Bishop (21.80). The time was just shy of the school record mark of 1:29.40 that Smit (22.74), Breeden (22.38), O'Donnell-McCarthy (22.70) and Bishop (21.58) had posted in prelim action Thursday.
Smit's 22.39 split in the 50 free during the finals was a personal-best and moved her into the No. 4 spot on Stanford's all-time list of top performers in the event. She had also earlier recorded a personal-best in the 100 back during Thursday's prelim session with a 400 medley relay leadoff leg of 53.82 that made her the No. 7 all-time performer at Stanford in the event.
Julia Smit was third in the 200 IM and also had two personal-best legs on Stanford relay teams Thursday at the NCAA Championships |
Auburn's Adrienne Binder (500 free, 4:36.96), Arizona's Whitney Myers (200 IM, 1:54.89, pool record) and Georgia's Kara Lynn Joyce (50 free, 21.71, pool record) joined Krug as winners of individual events.
Arizona clocked in at 1:27.23 to break its own NCAA record and Georgia's American mark in the 200 free relay with a team of Lara Jackson (21.91), Lacey Nymeyer (21.24), Anna Turner (22.27) and Lindsey Kelly (21.81).
California broke Auburn's NCAA record and Stanford's American standard in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:30.18 posted by Lauren Rogers (53.40, 100 back split), Jessica Hardy, Dana Vollmer and Emily Silver (47.59, 100 free split). The times for the 100 breast and 100 fly splits by Hardy and Vollmer were unavailable.
Other swimmers and divers competing for the Cardinal in Thursday's prelim session included Whitney Spence (17th, 4:45.75), Desireé Stahley (28th, 4:47.70), Morgan Hentzen (35th, 4:49.44) and Elizabeth Durot (44th, 4:50.89) in the 500 free; Caroline Bruce (18th, 1:59.69) and Nilasha Ghosh (41st, 2:01.82) in the 200 IM; Madeline Rovira (49th, 23.17) and O'Donnell-McCarthy (54th, 23.24) in the 50 free; and Shana Karp in 1-meter diving (39th, 218.05).
"I am really proud of us," summarized Maurer. "This was a really fast NCAA's just to get into. It's such a deep meet and you needed to be much faster this year just to make it back."
The third and fourth sessions of the 2007 NCAA Championships will be held on Friday with prelims beginning at 11 am, CT, and finals slated to start at 7 pm, CT. The 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 3-meter diving and 800 free relay will be contested.