Nine Gators Set To Swim At Women's NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 | Women's Swimming & Diving
The No. 2 University of Florida women's swimming and diving team is on hand in Auburn, Ala., to compete in the 2012 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center. The meet will begin on Thursday, March 15 and conclude Saturday, March 19 with morning trials beginning at 11:00 a.m. CT and finals starting at 7:00 p.m. CT each day of the competition.
“I think that we'll have some great individual performances this week – we have done a good job of training over the past few weeks and we are looking forward to seeing that training come into fruition in Auburn,” explained Florida head coach Gregg Troy. “We're looking forward to some fast swimming over the next few days.”
The Gators bring with them nine swimmers in seniors Sarah Bateman (Orlando, Fla.), Teresa Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa.) and Kirsten Smith (Cary, N.C.); junior Jamie Bohunicky (Gainesville, Fla.); sophomores Elizabeth Beisel (North Kingstown, R.I.), Kaitlin Frehling (St. Petersburg, Fla.), Hilda Luthersdottir (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland) and Alicia Mathieu (Marlborough, Conn.) along with freshman Natasha Fung (Edmonton, Canada).
In total, the Gators had 10 invited swimmers, but fellow sophomore Ellese Zalewski (Melbourne, Australia) is on hand for the Australian Olympic Trials in an effort to earn a spot on her home countries' roster.
Out of the group competing, all but two of the swimmers bring with them All-America honors, as it is the first NCAA Championship appearance for both Frehling and Fung. Together, the group of seven All-Americans has collected a total of 38 honors throughout their careers at Florida,
“It's a good group of women that have been there before, so we feel pretty comfortable that they'll handle the pressure of the meet well,” said Troy.
The Gators hold eight top-10 NCAA times in six different events heading into the meet. On top of that, Beisel has the lowest time nationally in both the 200 back and 400 IM with marks of 1:49.82 and 3:58.85, respectively, each set in her winning performances at the 2012 SEC Championships. With those performances, Beisel clocked in the second-fastest 400 IM in NCAA history, and became only the fifth swimmer to touch in under 1:50.00 in the 200 back en route to swimming the fourth-fastest time in NCAA history.
Following her performance at the SEC Championships where she not only won the 200 back and 400 IM, but added a 200 IM title in a school-record setting performance, that puts her fourth nationally, to be named the SEC Female Swimmer of the Year and Commissioner's Trophy (high point award) winner.
“Elizabeth is an outstanding competitor. We're pretty fortunate that both her and Teresa are extremely experienced swimmers that can swim a lot of different events. Elizabeth is an outstanding racer, and is also racing against some of the best competition in the country. It will bring out the best in her, she strives in that dynamic, and Teresa is pretty much the same way,” said Troy of his two swimmers.
Crippen enters her final NCAA meet with a team-high 10 All-American honors and three top-10 times nationally, ranking eighth in both the 200 back (1:53.87) and 400 IM (4:06.42) and tenth in the 200 fly (1:55.16). Bateman is also ranked in the top-10 entering the meet with the seventh fastest time in the 50 free with a 22.01 effort.
The women's squad is coming off of a third-place finish at the SEC Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., where they claimed three titles and eight women earned All-SEC honors.
ESPN3 will have a live stream of Friday's and Saturday's events beginning at 8 p.m. ET, and will also air a tape delay of the Championships on Wednesday, March 21 at 7 p.m. ET.
Auburn, will also feature live streaming of the meet through the following links:
Ÿ Thursday Finals: http://ulive.cbssports.com/index-ncaa.html?media=308984
Ÿ Thursday Prelims: http://ulive.cbssports.com/index-ncaa.html?media=303037
Ÿ Friday Prelims: http://ulive.cbssports.com/index-ncaa.html?media=303038
Ÿ Saturday Prelims: http://ulive.cbssports.com/index-ncaa.html?media=303039
For all the latest information on Florida women's swimming and diving at the NCAA Championships, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/swimmingdiving/women or, for up-to-the-minute updates from Auburn, Ala., follow swimming and diving on Twitter @GatorZoneSwimDv. You can also follow the Gators on Facebook.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Prelims will begin at 11 a.m. CT, and finals at 7 p.m. CT each day.
Thursday, March 15
200 Freestyle Relay
500 Freestyle
200 IM
50 Freestyle
400 Medley Relay
One-Meter Diving
Friday, March 16
200 Medley Relay
400 IM
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
800 Freestyle Relay
Three-Meter Diving
Saturday, February 17
1,650 Free – last heat of time finals
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
400 Freestyle Relay
Platform Diving
