Three Virginia Women's Swimmers to Compete in NCAA Championships
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March 16, 2005
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 13th-ranked Virginia women’s swimming and diving team has qualified three women to compete in the 2005 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, which are being hosted by Purdue University. Third-years Rachael Burke (Bethesda, Md./Good Counsel) and Brielle White (Philadelphia, Pa./Springside School), and second-year Jenny Steiner (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence) will represent UVa at the NCAA Championships. The meet will be held at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center in West Lafayette, Ind., Thursday through Saturday, March 17-19.
The Cavaliers look to improve upon last year’s 19th-place finish at the national meet. Virginia’s 19th-place finish snapped a streak of five consecutive top 13 finishes at the NCAA Championship.
Burke is competing in her third NCAA Championship and will swim the 500 and 1650 freestyles. She was the runner-up in the mile last year with a personal-best time of 15:55.27 (1500-meters) to garner first-team All-America honors. Burke also competed in the 200 and 400-meter freestyles at NCAAs last year. She is a four-time All-American, including three first team honors. In 2003, Burke finished seventh in the 500 and 1650 freestyles for the first two first-team All-America certificates of her career.
Steiner will swim the 100 and 200 breaststroke at NCAAs for the second consecutive year. In addition to swimming the 100 and 200 breast, she was also a member of UVa’s 200 and 400 medley relay teams at the 2004 NCAA Championships.
White will compete in the 100 and 200 backstroke at the national championship. She is the third seed in the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.44. Last year, White placed third in the 100 back (59.80 – 100 meters) at NCAAs to capture first-team All-America honors for the first time in her career. White was also an honorable mention All-American in the 200 backstroke last year as well as in the 100 back at the 2003 NCAAs. She won the 100 and 200 backstroke titles at the 2004 and 2005 ACC Championships.