Guenthner Named SEC Swimmer of the Week
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Fresh off her record setting performance against Auburn over the weekend, Laurabeth Guenthner (Wellington, Fla.) has been named the Southeastern Conference Female Swimmer of the Week as announced by the league office this afternoon.
Guenthner swam her way to two first place finishes over the weekend, sweeping the 400 and 1,500-meter freestyle events. She kicked off the afternoon for the Gators by swimming away from the competition in the 1,500, finishing 18.95 seconds ahead of the rest of the field with a time of 16:40.74. Her time, a lifetime best, was the third fastest in Florida history and qualifies her for the 2008 Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. Converted to short-course yards, her time of 16:15.72 serves as an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Championships in the 1,650-yard free, the short course equivalent to the long course event of 1,500 meters. The converted time was also the seventh fastest time on the short-course list and is the fourth fastest time in the SEC this season.
In the 400 free, Guenthner turned in another career best time of 4:17.37 to win the event. It was the second fastest performance by a Gator in the event this season. Converted, the time serves as her second-best in the short-course equivalent event, the 500-yard free. She is currently ranked seventh in the SEC with her season and career best time in the 500-yard free of 4:46.07.
The Gators will return to action this weekend as they travel to Knoxville, Tennessee to take on the Volunteers of the University of Tennessee. The seventh-ranked women's team will face Tennessee on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m.
Florida SEC Swimmers of the Week:
Women:
Caroline Burckle October 16
Laurabeth Guenthner January 29
