Virginia Women Crowned ACC Champions

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ATLANTA, Ga. The Virginia women’s swimming and diving team won the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference championship in spectacular fashion Saturday, besting second-place North Carolina by 228 points on the campus of Georgia Tech. This marks Virginia’s sixth ACC women’s championship, with the last coming in 2004.

Virginia finished the four-day competition with 800 points; North Carolina was second (572) while Florida State placed third (544.5).

UVa comes home with three relay titles and three individual titles; all the individual titles were won by first-years.

Rookie Liz Shaw was the epitome of dominance in the 200 fly on the final day of the event, setting her second ACC meet record in the preliminaries and then breaking it later in the finals. Her winning time of 1:56.07 also broke the conference record she set earlier in the season in the dual meet against North Carolina.

Hannah Davis, Stephanie Glover, Megan Evo, and Jessica Lewis teamed up to set a conference record and an ACC meet record in the 400 free relay, finishing in 3:18.69 to capture the crown. That time was just .3 seconds short of an NCAA A’ standard.

Claire Crippen (1:59.68), Evo (2:00.05), and Katya Bachrouche (2:03.39) were behind Shaw in the 200 fly, placing second, third, and seventh, respectively. While Shaw automatically qualified for NCAAs, Crippen and Evo met the NCAA B’ standard.

Jen Narum surpassed the NCAA A’ mark in the 1650 free, touching at 16:16.26 to place third. Leslie Swinley and Jenna Harris placed sixth (16:31.73) and seventh (16:34.00), respectively, both of which were NCAA B’ times.

In the 200 back, Mei Christensen put in a solid performance, placing second and automatically qualifying for NCAAs with a time of 1:56.27. Amanda Faulkner (2:00.13) and Glover (2:00.59) swam NCAA B’ times, placing fifth and sixth, respectively.

Lewis, swimming in her last ACC meet, led the Cavaliers in the 100 free, placing fifth and touching at 50.16. Her time met the NCAA B’ standard.

Ellie Freeman put some points on the board by claiming second place in the 200 breast with a NCAA B’ time of 2:14.60. Katherine McDonnell placed eighth in the event, finishing in 2:19.42.