Virginia Women Set to Compete at NCAA Championships

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – After bringing home the 2008 ACC Championship and securing a No. 10 national ranking, the Virginia women’s swimming team will send 10 competitors to the 2008 NCAA Championships. The meet will run Thursday through Saturday at the McCrokle Aquatic Pavilion on the Ohio State campus.

Virginia’s national qualifiers are a good mix of rookies and veterans, with Claire Crippen, Hannah Davis, and Liz Shaw representing a strong first-year class. Mei Christensen, Megan Evo, Stephanie Glover, Jenna Harris, Jessica Lewis, Jen Narum, and Kristen Wallace enter the pool with experience at the national level.

“We are extremely excited about having a large team at the meet,” Mark Bernardino, Virginia head coach, said. “This is the fastest women’s meet in the history of the sport. The standards were raised to such a high level that had never before been seen in our sport. To be able to bring a team of 10 women, a team that we feel is going to be competing for a top-25 NCAA finish, to bring some individuals that we hope will have the opportunity to swim in the finals or the consolation finals of several events, is very exciting. We are looking forward to significantly improving on our performance from a year ago. We have the athletes capable of putting Virginia back on the national scene.”

UVa will compete in three relay events, including the 200 free (Davis, Lewis, Glover, Wallace), 400 free (Davis, Glover, Evo, Lewis) and 800 free (Glover, Lewis, Harris, Evo).

Virginia also will have multiple swimmers in the 500 free (Narum, Harris); 200 IM (Shaw, Crippen, Evo, Christensen); 400 IM (Crippen, Shaw); 100 fly (Glover, Wallace); 200 free (Harris, Lewis, Evo); 1650 free (Narum, Harris); 200 back (Christensen, Glover); 100 free (Lewis, Davis, Wallace) and the 200 fly (Shaw, Crippen, Evo).

In addition, Lewis qualified in the 50 free and Christensen will swim in the 100 back.

Last year, the Cavaliers finished 39th overall at the meet. The 800 free relay team of Evo, Lewis, Glover and Harris return to the event after earning honorable mention All-America honors a year ago after a 15th-place finish.

Virginia had eight swimmers at the national meet in 2007. Christensen placed 28th in the 200 back and also swam in the 200 IM and 100 back events. Lewis went on to place 34th in the 100 free and 36th in the 200 free while Harris finished 38th in the 500 free and also swam in the 200 free. Evo placed 36th in both the 200 IM and 200 fly, while also competing in the 100 fly. Glover participated in the 50 free and 100 fly.

Virginia will be challenged by Georgia, the No. 1 nationally-ranked team heading into the event. The defending champion, Auburn, is ranked fifth behind Georgia, Stanford, Florida, and Arizona, respectively.