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Feb. 20, 2004
2004 ACC Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – The Virginia Cavaliers became the third team to lead in as many days at the 2004 Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship, being held in the Aquatic and Fitness Center on the grounds of the University of Virginia.
Virginia enters the final day of the Championship in first place with 427 points, leading Florida State (410) and North Carolina (401). Maryland stands fourth with 360 points, while Duke has tallied 200 points heading into the fourth day of the Championship. Georgia Tech is sixth with 184 points, followed by Clemson (181) and NC State (154).
“It was a night of outstanding swimming for the whole conference,” said UVa head coach Mark Bernardino. “To be able to erase the deficit we started with and to walk out of here with a small lead is very gratifying feeling. Any one of four teams can take this and it is imperative that we maintain our focus and swim with determination and desire in order to put us in a position to do well. Saturday is our best day of the meet.”
Virginia’s Amy Baly (Atlanta, Ga./Marist School) placed first in the 400-yard individual medley to start this evening’s events. Maryland’s Elizabeth Lavell touched the wall second, followed by teammate Alexandra Malanina in third place.
“I feel awesome,” said Baly, after winning the ACC title after finishing second to former teammate Mirjana Bosevska the last two years. “It’s good to do it for the team and knowing that I had the whole team behind me and knowing everyone was backing me was a great feeling.”
In the 100-yard butterfly, Maryland’s Gigi de Toll recorded an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 53.66 in taking first place honors. Duke’s Katie Ness finished the race second with Florida State’s Emily Breen taking third place.
North Carolina’s Jessi Perruquet set a new pool and ACC Championship record with her NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:46.36 in the 200-yard freestyle. Teammates Kelly Weeks and Virginia Hanson completed the Tar Heels’ one-two-three sweep of the event, respectively.
Florida State’s Emma Dutton set a new pool record in winning the 100-yard breaststroke with her 1:00.94 NCAA automatic qualifying time. She was followed by teammate Lauren Brick in second, while North Carolina’s Lizzy Bruce finished third.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Virginia’s Brielle White (Philadelphia, Pa./Springside School) took first place honors when she broke her own ACC, Meet and pool records set this morning in preliminaries with her NCAA automatic qualifying time of 53.63. Florida State’s Emily Breen finished the race second, while Maryland’s Megan Knepper placed third.
In the final event of the evening, Florida State won the 400-yard medley relay in a time of 3:40.81, setting a new pool record. Virginia’s White broke the ACC, school and pool record for the third time of the day with her leadoff 100 backstroke split of 53.12, in helping the Cavaliers finish second (3:41.93). Joining White on UVa’s runner-up relay were Jenny Steiner (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence), Cynthia Roller (Herndon, Va./Herndon) and Katy Bland (Raleigh, N.C./Leesville).
“I feel like I could get better each time,” said White of her record-breaking performances. “I didn’t know I was going to go a 53 again in my individual (split of the 400 medley relay) because I was a little nervous about the events being back to back for the individual and the relay, but I decided to go all-out anyway the second time (in the finals). And then in the relay, I just did it all for my team.”
The final day of the Championship will begin tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., with finals commencing at 7:00 p.m.