Virginia Wins Women's ACC Swimming And Diving Championships
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Feb. 22, 2003
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – After finishing second the past three years, the Virginia women’s swimming and diving team regained the title as the top team in the conference by capturing the 2003 Women’s Atlantic Coast Conference Swimming and Diving Championship Saturday (February 22) at Koury Natatorium on the campus of the University of North Carolina. UVa won the 25th annual ACC Championship with 710 points, defeating three-time defending champion North Carolina by 101 points. The Cavaliers received a complete team effort in winning their fourth ACC title in school history as 11 swimmers earned All-ACC honors with top three performances in the three-day meet.
The Cavaliers won the three-day, 20-event competition with 710 points, while North Carolina is second with 609 points. Florida State was third with 557 points, while Maryland finished fourth (538). Clemson was fifth with 339 points, followed by Georgia Tech (259), N.C. State (241) and Duke (230).
In the first event of the final session, the 1650 freestyle, first-year Rachael Burke (Bethesda, Md./Good Counsel), earned her first individual ACC title with a winning time of 16:11.21, while fourth-year teammate and three-time 1650 free ACC champion Cara Lane (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) was second in 16:21.48. Both swimmers bettered the NCAA automatic qualifying standard. Second-year Katie McWilliams (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) placed fifth (16:38.58), while third-year Amy Baly (Atlanta, Ga./Marist School) was eighth (16:51.73).
First-year Corey Berg (Hyde Park, N.Y./F.D. Roosevelt) earned All-ACC honors by finishing second in the 200 backstroke with a NCAA B” time of 1:59.67. Two other UVa first-years, Brielle White (Philadelphia, Pa./Springside School) and Katie Gordon (Winter Park, Fla./Trinity Prep), placed fifth and eighth in the 200 back with times of 1:59.97 and 2:02.20, respectively. UNC’s Laura Collier won the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:59.37.
In the 100 freestyle, second-year Andrea Georoff (Winter Park, Fla./Trinity Prep) earned runner-up honors with a time of 49.67 seconds, just four hundredths of a second off Maryland’s Shandra Johnson’s winning time of 49.63. Fourth-year Lindsey Crane (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) finished seventh in the 100 free with a time of 51.19.
Second-year Coco Buck (Herndon, Va./Herndon) was the Cavaliers’ only finalist in the 200 breaststroke as she placed eighth with a time of 2:22.27. First-year Elaine Bennett (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) claimed the 10th spot (2:19.06), while third-year Rachael Schaffner (Vienna, Va./Bishop O’Connell) was 12th (2:19.70). Maryland’s Jillian Martin took the 200 breast title with a time of 2:12.56.
The Cavaliers took three of the top eight spots in the 200 butterfly with fourth-year and 400 I.M. champion Mirjana Bosevska (Skopje, Macedonia/Trinity Prep) finishing third in 2:00.17. Second-year Kate Wrenshall (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bolles School) was seventh (2:02.92), while 100 butterfly champion and third-year Cynthia Roller (Herndon, Va./Herndon) was eighth (2:03.85). Third-year Carlie Dykehouse (Gainesville, Fla./Trinity Prep) won the “B” final with a time of 2:00.59. UNC’s Kelly Weeks won the 200 fly with a time of 1:59.61.
Fourth-year Alison Sharp (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock) finished seventh in the three-meter diving competition with 438.95 points. Florida State’s Chelsie Lerew won the three-meter competition with 504.30 points.
In the final event of the meet, the Cavaliers finished fourth in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:23.01. Georoff, Crane, Bosevska, and Dykehouse swam legs on UVa’s 400 free relay team. Florida State won the event with a time of 3:20.76.