Nov. 9, 2007
Stanford, Calif. - No. 5 Georgia (7-0) needed a dramatic victory in the final event for a 156-144 victory over No. 2 Stanford (2-1) in a non-conference short-course yards dual meet at the Gabrielsen Natatorium on Friday. Georgia anchor Courtney Monsees touched just .25 seconds ahead of a charging Julia Smit to clinch the Lady Bulldogs' 60th straight home dual meet win. The victory was Georgia's 60th straight home dual meet win, while Stanford had a string of 12 straight dual meet victories overall snapped.
Jessica Cole started Georgia's winning 400 free relay squad that finished in an NCAA `B' time of 3:21.21 with a 50.65 split to give the Lady Bulldogs a 0.79 second margin after the first leg. Chelsea Nauta helped Georgia open up an even bigger lead after 200 yards when she recorded a 49.93 split to give Georgia a 1.97 seconds advantage at the midway mark. Fiona O'Donnell-McCarthy out swam Georgia's Anna Miller to move the Cardinal back to within 1.39 seconds for Smit's final run at the victory. Smit made up 1.14 seconds on Monsees by swimming the fastest leg of the event with a 48.95 final 100.
Despite being edged in the final team score, Stanford won nine of the meet's 16 events with Smit, Breeden and Bishop each winning a pair of individual events for the Cardinal all in NCAA `B' times. Breeden swept the 100 (54.81) and 200 (1:59.12) fly, while Smit was a winner in the 200 free (1:47.16) and 200 IM (2:00.71), and Bishop took the 50 (23.08) and 100 (50.05) free. Liz Smith was also victorious for the Cardinal in the 200 breast (2:14.70, NCAA `B'), while Meg Hostage came through with a big win in the 3-meter diving competition (320.25) late in the meet to keep the team score tight. O'Donnell-McCarthy, Caroline Bruce, Breeden and Bishop also started the day by capturing the 200 medley relay in an NCAA `B' time of 1:41.63. Smit added an NCAA `A' time of 1:56.21 in a second place 200 back finish.
Georgia's Alek Putra and Kelsey Ditto had a pair of individual victories each for the Lady Bulldogs. Putra won the 200 back with a time of 1:56.06 that was Georgia's only NCAA `A' mark of the meet and also added a 100 back (54.63, NCAA `B') win. Ditto dominated the distance free events, winning the 500 in an NCAA `B' time of 4:48.15 and the 1000 in 9:46.87. Mhyria Miller took the 100 breast in an NCAA `B' time of 1:02.30 and Hannah Moore claimed victory in 1-meter diving with 274.12 points.
Besides the dramatic 400 free relay victory to close out the meet, Georgia's other keys were a series of close wins in individual events and team depth. Putra edged Smit by just .15 seconds in the 200 back and Bishop by only .32 seconds in the 100 back, while Miller upset Bruce in the 100 breast by just .22 ticks and Moore edged Hostage in 1-meter diving by only 4.79 points. The Lady Bulldogs also had more scorers than the Cardinal in 11 of 16 events.
Stanford's swimmers will be out of action until competing Thursday-Saturday, November 29 - December 1, at the Texas Invitational in Austin, Texas. The team's divers will next participate at three-day Purdue Diving Invitational from Friday-Sunday, November 16-18, in West Lafayette, Indiana.