March 21, 2002
Austin, Texas – Notre Dame senior Carrie Nixon placed seventh, earning All-America honors, in the 50 freestyle at the 2002 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas. Nixon’s time of 22.53 is a new personal best and breaks the Notre Dame record of 22.70, set by her in the morning preliminaries.
In what was the fastest 50-yard swim in United States’ history, Georgia junior Maritza Correia set a new NCAA, American and U.S. Open record finishing in a time of 21.69. Rice junior Mandy Mulzar was second in 22.17, while Auburn’s Eileen Coparropa was third in 22.39. Only .05 seconds separated fourth through seventh place as Georgia’s Stefanie Williams was fourth in 22.48, Texas junior Erin Phenix was fifth in 22.51 and Auburn sophomore Rebekah Short was fifth in 22.52.
Nixon, a native of Ouray, Colo., earned the second All-America honor of her career. She finished fourth in the 50-yard freestyle at the 2000 NCAA meet, which is the highest-ever individual finish in by an Irish swimmer at the national championships. Nixon missed the 2001 meet after shoulder surgery caused her to miss the entire season.
Irish senior Heather Mattingly, who is the only diver in Notre Dame history to compete at the national meet all four years of her career, earned honorable mention All-America honors on the one-meter diving board, finishing 12th with 267.00 points. It was Mattingly’s best-ever finish in the one-meter competition at the NCAA Championships. Her previous best finish on the one-meter board was 15th as a sophomore. Mattingly, who will also compete in the three-meter event tomorrow, was 12th on the three-meter board in 2001.
The Irish 400 medley relay team of Kelly Hecking, Allison Lloyd, Lisa D’Olier and Nixon earned honorable mention All-America honors after placing 13th with a time of 3:42.87.
The Irish continue at the NCAA meet Friday with preliminaries at 11:00 a.m. central time and finals at 7:00 p.m. The same foursome who competed in the 400 medley relay will begin Friday’s competition, this time in the 200 medley relay. Sophomore Marie Labosky will then compete in her strongest event, the 400 individual medley, in which she placed 12th at the 2001 NCAA meet in earning honorable mention All-America honors. Labosky comes into the race with the 13th quickest time nationally. Freshman Kelli Barton also will compete in the 400 IM.
The Irish will be strong in the 100-yard butterfly race as Nixon, Lisa Garcia and D’Olier will swim on Friday. Lloyd, participating in her second NCAA meet, will race her first individual event of the weekend, competing in the 100-yard breaststroke. Hecking and freshman Kristen Peterson compete in the 100-yard backstroke on Friday, as well as Mattingly on the three-meter board.
Note: Complete results are available at www.texassports.com