Virginia Sending Eight Swimmers To Women's NCAA Championships
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March 17, 2004
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 19th-ranked Virginia women’s swimming and diving team has qualified eight women to compete in the 2004 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships which are being hosted by Texas A&M. The meet will be held at the Student Rec Center Natatorium in College Station, Texas, Thursday, March 18 through Saturday, March 20.
The Cavaliers look to improve upon last year’s 13th-place finish at the national meet when they sent a school record 12 swimmers to the NCAA Championships. UVa has finished among the top 13 teams at the national meet the past five years. The NCAA Championships will be held in short course meters this year.
Virginia has entrants in 11 of the 13 individual swimming events (every event except the 50 and 100 freestyle) and is also competing in three of the five relays. The Cavaliers have multiple entrants in five events. UVa has four entrants in the 400-meter free, three in the 1500-meter free, and two in the 200-meter backstroke, 200-meter freestyle, and 200-meter breaststroke. Listed below is an entire breakdown of Virginia’s event entrants.
Fourth-year Amy Baly (Atlanta, Ga./Marist School) – 400 I.M., 400 freestyle, and 200 breaststroke
Second-year Cory Berg (Hyde Park, N.Y./F.D. Roosevelt) – 200 backstroke, 200 I.M.
Second-year Rachael Burke (Bethesda, Md./Good Counsel) – 1500 freestyle, 400 freestyle, and 200 freestyle
First-year Kimi Kelly (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Ursuline School) – 1500 freestyle, 400 freestyle, and 200 butterfly
First-year Rory Schmidt (Phoenix, Ariz./Arcadia) – 1500 freestyle, 400 freestyle, and 200 freestyle
First-year Jenny Steiner (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence) – 200 breaststroke, 100 breaststroke
Fourth-year Cynthia Roller (Herndon, Va./Herndon) – 100 butterfly
Second-year Brielle White (Philadelphia, Pa./Springside School) – 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke
In addition to the individual events, UVa will compete in the 200 medley, 400 medley and 800 freestyle relays.
Virginia has three swimmers who are seeded in the top 10 for four events. White is the top-seeded Cavalier as she is third in the 100 backstroke with an ACC record time of 53.12. Kelly is seeded fifth in the 1500-meter free with a 1650-yard time of 16:04.33. In the 1500-meter free, Burke is seeded sixth with a 1650-yard time of 16:06.46 and she is also the seventh seed in the 400-meter free with a 500 free time of 4:43.24.
Burke earned first-team All-America honors at the 2003 NCAA Championships with seventh-place performances in the 500 and 1650 freestyle. She was also an honorable mention All-American in the 800 free relay (11th). Baly and White were honorable mention All-Americans in the 400 I.M. and 100 backstroke with 12th-place finishes, respectively.