Feb. 22, 2003
Uniondale, N.Y. – The University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team, looking for its seventh straight BIG EAST title, extended its lead to 73 points after day two at the 2003 BIG EAST Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Notre Dame has 5-1 points, followed by Rutgers with 428. Miami is third with 353, followed by Pittsburgh (290) and Virginia Tech (272).
Notre Dame was lead by junior Marie Labosky who took first place in the 400 individual medley defeating arch rival Maddy Crippen of Vlllanova. Labosky finished in 4:16.24, edging out the two-time defending champion who finished in 4:16.46. It was the second BIG EAST Championship for Labosky in her career and her time should qualify her for the 2003 NCAA Championship meet March 20-22 in Auburn, Ala.
Junior diver Maghan Perry-Eaton also made history for the Irish last night as she became the first Notre Dame diver to win a BIG EAST Conference crown. Perry Eaton finished with 309.20 points, defeating 2001 champion Katie Beth Bryant of Miami who posted 293.10 points.
Notre Dame’s 200 medley relay of junior Danielle Hulick, freshman Courtney Choura, freshman Christel Bouvron and sophomore Katie Eckholt placed third in 1:43.78. The realy team from Rutgers set a BIG EAST Championship record finishing in 1:41.92.
Notre Dame took places three through six in the 100 backstroke as Hulick, who posted the fastest time in the morning session by tying Kelly Hecking’s Notre Dame record, was third with a finals time of 55.56. Sophomore Kristen Peterson was fourth in 56.13, ” “B” qualifying time, while freshman Kara Santelli was fifth and sophomore Sarah Alwen sixth. Both Santelli and Alwen posted faster times than their morning swims, which were both “B” qualifiers.
Bouvron finished second in the 100 butterfly, while teammate Lisa Garcia was third and Lisa D’Olier was eighth. Bouvron finished in a time of 54.57, faster than her morning swim and faster than last season’s 2002 NCAA qualfying cut helping her chances of making the 2003 meet. Garcia posted a time of 54.90, while D’Olier finished in 56.17. Rutgers Michelle DeFreese was first in 53.32, setting a new BIG EAST record.
Senior Heidi Hendrick finished sixth in the 200 freestyle with an NCAA “B” time of 1:50.09. Miami’s Manonvan Rooijen was first in a BIG EAST record time of 1:46.44.
Freshman Courtney Choura and junior Laurie Musgrave finished third and fourth in the 100 breaststroke. Choura had the finished in an NCAA “B” cut time of 1:03.48, while Musgrave’s time was 1:03.92, also a “B” time. Pittsburgh’s Ryan Redman was first in 1:02.87.
Notre Dame was third in the 800 freestyle as the team of Bouvron, Garcia, Hendrick and Alwen, who were seeded seventh coming into the race, moved up four spots with a time of 7:25.26. Rutgers was first, blowing away the field in a conference championship record time of 7:16.43.
The BIG EAST meet concludes on Saturday with the prelims at 10:30 a.m. and the finals at 6:30 p.m.