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Prelims: Day 3 at Women's ACCs
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ATLANTA – The Virginia women’s swimming team continued competition Friday in the 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Ga. Preliminaries were held in the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke, in addition to men’s 1-meter diving and women’s 3-meter diving.
The Cavaliers ended the morning on a strong note in the 100 backstroke, as all four swimmers took spots in the final tonight. Freshman Charlotte Clarke (53.88), sophomore Meredith Cavalier (53.94), junior Jenny Lewis (54.05) and junior Erika Stewart (54.26) will make up half the field in the final race.
Sophomore Lauren Perdue tied her own school and conference record of 1:43.86 to top the field in the 200 freestyle. Teammate Rachel Naurath had the second-fastest time of the morning (1:46.11) to earn a spot in the final as did senior Kristen Moores with her mark of 1:47.49. Additionally, junior Meredith Perdue (1:48.36) and senior Hannah Davis (1:48.89) will swim in the consolation final.
Virginia placed three swimmers in the final of the 400 individual medley – all seniors. Claire Crippen, a two-time ACC champion in this event, clocked a time of 4:12.27. Classmates Katya Bachrouche (4:13.22) and Anne Summer Myers (4:16.16) will also compete in the final tonight. Fellow senior Amanda Faulkner also earned a spot in the consolation final with a time of 4:21.33.
Senior Liz Shaw will represent the Orange and Blue in the 100 butterfly final after clocking a prelim time of 54.21. A pair of freshmen – Emily Lloyd (55.02) and Riley Flanagan (55.05) – are set to swim in the consolation final tonight.
UVa was represented solely by junior Kelly Flynn in the 100 breaststroke. Flynn finished with a time of 1:02.70 to earn a spot in the consolation final. North Carolina, which trails Virginia by 27.5 points entering the fifth session, placed five swimmers in the final of the 100 breaststroke.
“It was a nice finish but the pendulum swung really hard the other way in the 100 breaststroke,” Virginia head coach Mark Bernardino said. “North Carolina made all the right moves and exposed our weakness. Their breaststrokers performed at a very high level. We have to battle back and see if we can find ways to pick up some points over the course of the next three sessions to see if we can keep ourselves in the hunt.”