Virginia Men's And Women's Swimming And Diving Teams Cruise To ACC Wins Over Georgia Tech
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Nov. 7, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Second-year swimmers Fran Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa./Germantown Academy) and Rachael Burke (Bethesda, Md./Good Counsel) both automatically qualified for the 2004 NCAA Championships in the 1650 freestyle while helping lead the nationally-ranked Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams to Atlantic Coast Conference victories over Georgia Tech Friday (November 7) at the Aquatic and Fitness Center. The ninth-ranked Cavalier men improve to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the ACC with a 133-95 win over Georgia Tech, while the 17th-ranked UVa women improve to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the conference with a 139-98 win over the Yellow Jackets.
The Cavalier women won eight of 13 events in cruising to the 139-98 victory. Burke, a first-team All-American, bettered the NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 1650 free by touching in 16:23.53 to capture UVa’s first individual event win. It was the first four top three sweeps by the Cavaliers. The foursome of second-year Brielle White (Philadelphia, Pa./Springside School), first-year Jenny Steiner (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence), fourth-year Cynthia Roller (Herndon, Va./Herndon), and first-year Shannon Hogan (Northville, Mich./Northville) took the first swimming event of the meet, the 200 medley relay, with a time of 1:44.56. Steiner also led a top three Cavalier sweep in the 200 breast, clocking a time of 2:18.32. Hogan picked up an individual event win as well, as she posted a winning time of 24.39 in the 50 free.
Other individual event winners for the Cavaliers included first-year Katy Bland (Raleigh, N.C./Leesville) in the 100 free (52.32), first-year Erin Corgan (Marietta, Ga./Marist) in the 200 individual medley (2:05.34), second-year Corey Berg (Hyde Park, N.Y./F.D. Roosevelt) in the 200 backstroke (2:01.95), and second-year Katie Gordon (Winter Park, Fla./Trinity Prep) in the 500 freestyle (4:54.76). Bland and Corgan joined second-year Laura Lipskis (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) and first-year Rory Schmidt (Phoenix, Ariz./Arcadia) on Virginia’s 800 free relay that exhibitioned in a winning time of 7:36.43.
Georgia Tech (1-1, 1-1 ACC) was led by diver Laurissa Prystaj, who swept the one and three-meter diving competitions with scores of 254.03 and 267.3, respectively.
The Virginia men won the first nine events before exhibitioning the final four in its 133-95 win over the Yellow Jackets (1-1, 1-1 ACC). Crippen, a first-team All-American, automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 1650 free with a time of 15:05.15, more than 28 seconds faster than the runner-up. Crippen exhibitioned the 500 free with a winning time of 4:28.52 as well as the 800 free relay with first-year Stefan Hirniak (Highland Park, N.J./Princeton Day), third-year Bo Greenwood (Manakin, Va./Goochland) and fourth-year Ian Prichard (Ventura, Calif./Buena). The foursome finished in 6:49.96. Greenwood also won the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:52.31.
The Cavaliers got off to a quick start by winning the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:32.20. Fourth-year Luke Wagner (Englewood, Colo./Regis Jesuit), first-year Vanja Rogulj (Zagreb, Croatia/Split), third-year Michael Raab (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson), and fourth-year Jon Haag (Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) swam on the winning relay. All four members of the relay also won individual events with Haag and Wagner taking a pair of events apeice. Haag won the 50 free (21.26) and 100 free (46.58), while Wagner won the 200 free (1:40.74) and 200 backstroke (1:47.28). Raab continued his dominance in the 200 butterfly with a winning time of 1:46.98 (NCAA B), while Rogulj exhibitioned the 200 breast and touched in a winning time of 2:02.42. Fourth-year diver Pete Amstutz (St. Joseph, Mich./St. Joseph) swept the diving events. He and second-year teammate Andrew Barber (Vienna, Va./Marshall) bettered the Zone B qualifying standard in taking the top two spots on the one-meter board with scores of 308.48 and 301.88, respectively. Amstutz won the three-meter diving competition with an exhibition score of 293.03.
Virginia returns to action on November 21-23 when it travels to College Station, Texas to compete in the Texas A&M Fall Invitational.