March 19, 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Sophomore Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) and junior Christel Bouvron (Singapore, Singapore/Raffles Girls’ Secondary School) both competed in the 200-yard butterfly Saturday morning in the preliminaries of the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. Neither advanced to the evening finals, finishing 21st and 22nd, respectively. The Irish finished the NCAAs with 32 points, which had them placed in 22nd prior to the final evening.
Carroll, who was an All-American with a sixth-place finish in the 400 individual medley and honorable mention with a 14th-place result in the 200 IM, turned in a lifetime best on Saturday, with a time of 2:00.48. It stands as the ninth-fastest time ever by an Irish swimmer in the event and vaulted her from seventh to fourth on the list of quickest all-time Notre Dame competitors in the 200 fly. Her previous top time in the race – which she swam just twice during the regular season – was 2:01.61 in prelims at last month’s BIG EAST Championships. Carroll was seeded 45th heading into the race, last among the eligible competitors, but she continued her penchant for outperforming her seeding, moving up 24 spots. She now ranks among the top four swimmers in Irish history in six events: 1st in the 200 IM and 400 IM, 2nd in the 100 free and 100 fly, and 4th in the 1,000 free and 200 fly.
Bouvron, who made her NCAA Championships debut with a 41st-place finish in the 100 fly on Friday, posted the second-fastest time of her career, coming in just behind her teammate with a mark of 2:00.59, the 11th-fastest mark ever by an Irish swimmer. Her top time was 2:00.07 in winning the title in the BIG EAST meet. Bouvron moved up nine spots from her seeding of 31st.
The final evening qualifier in the 200 fly, Laura Davis of Stanford, registered a time of 1:59.62. Only two Irish swimmers have ever had better performances at the NCAAs than Carroll and Bouvron. Alison Newell was 13th in both 1997 and 2000, while Notre Dame record holder Lisa Garcia took 17th in 2002 and 14th in ’03.
Notre Dame’s other NCAA qualifier, fifth-year senior All-American Meghan Perry-Eaton (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale H.S.), was not in action on Saturday. She was named an All-American for the second year in a row in one-meter diving with a fifth-place finish on Thursday. The following day, she placed a career-high 15th off the three-meter board to earn honorable-mention accolades.
For complete results of the NCAA Championships, please see http://www.ncaasports.com/swimming/womens/championship-results/2005/d1.