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Jan. 22, 2005
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 15th-ranked Virginia women’s swimming and diving team won 11 of 16 events in cruising to a 179-119 victory over 15th-ranked North Carolina Saturday (January 22) at the UVa Aquatic and Fitness Center. With the victory, UVa remains perfect in dual meet competition, improving to 9-0 overall and 4-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, while the Tar Heels fall to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the conference.
Third-years Rachael Burke (Bethesda, Md./Good Counsel) and Katie Gordon (Winter Park, Fla./Trinity Prep), and first-year Jess Lewis (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) each won a pair of individual events, while Lewis also recorded two relay victories.
The Cavaliers got off to a great start by wining the 200 medley relay with a NCAA “B” time of 1:42.54. Third-year Brielle White (Philadelphia, Pa./Springside School), second-year Jenny Steiner (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence), first-year Stephanie Glover (Raleigh, N.C./Athens Drive) and Lewis swam legs on the winning relay. Virginia then swept the top three places in the 1000 freestyle. Burke clocked a winning time of 9:47.94, while second-year Rory Schmidt (Phoenix, Ariz./Arcadia) was second (10:01.05) and fourth-year Katie McWilliams (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) was third (10:05.94). In the 200 freestyle, second-year Katy Bland (Raleigh, N.C./Leesville) posted a winning time of 1:51.00.
In the fourth event of the meet, the 100 backstroke, White touched first with a NCAA “B” time of 55.86. North Carolina’s Lizzy Bruce out-touched Steiner to win the 100 breaststroke. Bruce finished in 1:03.80 (NCAA “B”) with Steiner just seven hundredths behind at 1:03.87. First-year Anna Steenrod (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin) was third in 1:04.04. The Tar Heel’s Lindsey Marck took the top spot in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:00.14 (NCAA “B”), while third-year Elaine Bennett (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) was the Cavaliers’ top finisher in third place (2:02.69).
UVa picked up its fifth victory of the meet in the 50 freestyle with Lewis recording a time of 23.74. Glover rounded out the one-two Cavalier finish with a runner-up time of 23.92. In the one-meter diving competition, UNC swept the top three spots with Gia Santoro leading the way with 267.38 points. UVa notched a one-two finish in the 100 freestyle with Lewis posting a NCAA “B” time of 50.62. Bland was second in the 100 free in 51.80. In the 200 backstroke, the Virginia grabbed the top three spots with Gordon leading the way with a NCAA “B” time of 2:01.47. White was second 2:02.13, followed by third-year Corey Berg (Hyde Park, N.Y./F.D. Roosevelt) in third (2:02.73). After finishing second in the 100 breast, Steiner registered a come-from-behind victory in the 200 breast as she out-touched Bruce by 18 hundredths of a second with a time of 2:16.16 (NCAA “B”).
In the 500 freestyle, Burke led another one-two-three Virginia sweep with a NCAA “B” time of 4:53.57. Schmidt was second (4:56.24) and fourth-year Kate Wrenshall (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bolles School) finished third (4:57.47). UNC’s Santoro earned a sweep of the diving competition by winning the three-meter competition with 283.58 points. Gordon won the final individual event of the meet, the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:20.68. In the final event of the meet, the Virginia team of Bland, Glover, first-year Amber Bialas (Virginia Beach, Va./Tallwood) and Lewis cruised to victory in the 400 freestyle relay, posting a time of 3:25.28.
The Cavalier women return to action on Friday (January 28) when they travel to Gainesville, Fla., to swim against third-ranked Florida at 6:00 p.m.