No. 3 Women's Swimming Heads to NCAA Championships
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 | Women's Swimming & Diving
The third ranked University of Florida women's swimming and diving team will head to Columbus, Ohio for the 2008 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. Florida will bring 14 swimmers and 2 divers to the meet that is set to begin Thursday, March 20 and wrap up Saturday March 22.
The Gators will be led by sophomore Gemma Spofforth and senior Caroline Burckle. Both Florida swimmers brought home three Southeastern Conference championships at last month's meet, two individually. Spofforth is the only swimmer on Florida's roster to currently hold a national championship as well. She is the reigning NCAA champion in the 200-yard backstroke in a UF record time of 1:52.96. Spofforth broke her own record at the SEC Championships this year, touching in at 1:50.56 to set a new SEC and pool record along the way as well.
Burckle was on American record pace in the 500-yard freestyle at the SEC Championships, before clocking .48 seconds off the mark with a new SEC, school and pool record of 4:34.87. The time also serves as the fastest time swum in the country heading into the championships. Burckle and Spofforth combined with Colleen Healy and Stephanie Napier in the 200 medley relay, setting a new school and SEC record of 1:37.23 on the first day of the SEC meet.
Napier will be the Gators' go-to swimmer in the sprint distances, having been entered into the meet in the 50 and 100 free, Napier will look to better her school record swim of 22.30 seconds at the SEC meet. Napier's time broke Dara Torres' school record, a time that had stood atop the UF record books for 20 years. Healy will join Napier in the 50 free after finishing 10th overall at the SEC meet with a career best time of 23.00 seconds.
Monica Dodson and Jeana Bartell will represent the Gators on the diving boards after the pair qualified for the championships meet at last week's Zone B Championships. Bartell earned her way onto the squad after finishing fifth on the three-meter board, while Dodson's seventh place performance earned her the final spot on the roster of divers headed to Columbus.
This season has proven to be a banner year for the Gators, finishing the season 11-1 in regular season dual meets, finishing second at the SEC meet and being ranked third nationally to end the season.
The NCAA Championships will begin tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. with the first round of preliminary action. Finals are set to begin at 7:00 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Live results can be found by going to www.ncaaswim.org or www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
