March 19, 1999
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – For the second day in a row, the Notre Dame women’s and diving team had one relay team advance to the consolation final after placing in the top 16 in the preliminaries at the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga.
The 200 medley relay team of Kelly Hecking (Rutherford, N.J.), Brittany Kline (Crystal Lake, Ill.), Elizabeth Barger (Littleton, Colo.) and Carrie Nixon (Ouray, Colo.) finished 13th in a time of 1:42.75 and will compete in Friday night’s consolation final. Just by competing in the consolation final, Notre Dame will earn at least two points towards its total team score, while all four swimmers will earn honorable mention All-America status. In 1998, the Irish 200 medley relay team finished 19th in the preliminaries.
Also competing in Friday morning’s preliminaries were Barger (23rd – 55.62) and Nixon (40th – 56.99) in the 100 butterfly, Hecking (25th – 56.26) in the 100 backstroke and sophomore Kristen Van Saun (55th – 1:53.73) in the 200 freestyle. The Irish had three swimmers finish in the top 20 in the trials of the 100-yard breastroke including Kline (17th – 1:03.14), junior Shannon Suddarth (19th – 1:03.28) and freshman Allison Lloyd (20th – 1:03.34). Freshman diver Heather Mattingly (Houston, Texas) completed her 1999 NCAA campaign with a 26th place (435.25) in the three-meter diving competition after finishing 18th on the one-meter board on Thursday.
The Irish are in 23rd place overall with 12 points after Thursday night’s finals. The NCAA Championships conclude Saturday, March 20 with the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, 400 freestyle relay, platform diving and the 1,650 freestyle.
1999 NCAA Women’s NCAA Championships
Day Two – – Preliminaries
200 Medley Relay
1. Georgia (1:39.82);
13. Notre Dame (Kelly Hecking, Brittany Kline, Elizabeth Barger, Carrie Nixon) – 1:42.75.
100 Butterfly
1. Misty Hyman, Stanford, (52.37);
23. Elizabeth Barger, Notre Dame, (55.62).
200 Freestyle
1. Martina Moracova, SMU, (1:45.34);
55. Kristen Van Saun, Notre Dame, (1:53.73).
100 Breaststroke
1. Kristy Kowal, Georgia, (1:00.51);
17. Brittany Kline, Notre Dame, (1:03.14);
19. Shannon Suddarth, Notre Dame, (1:03.28);
20. Allison Lloyd, Notre Dame, (1:03.34).
100 Backstroke
1. Catherine Fox, Stanford, (52.47);
25. Kelly Hecking, Notre Dame, (56.26).
Three-meter Diving
26. Heather Mattingly, Notre Dame, (435.25).