Feb. 17, 2005
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – The University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team – in pursuit of its ninth consecutive title – qualified a meet-best nine student-athletes for the championship finals in a strong preliminaries session Thursday morning at the BIG EAST Championships in the Nassau County Aquatic Center. The Irish also had the top qualifier in three of the four events: fifth-year senior Meghan Perry-Eaton (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale H.S.) in one-meter diving, sophomore Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) in the 200-yard individual medley, and sophomore Ellen Johnson (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) in the 500-yard freestyle.
Notre Dame, tied with Pittsburgh for first place with 72 points after two of 20 events, will have a total of 12 competitors in action on Thursday evening, a sum behind only Rutgers’ 13 (seven in championship finals). The Scarlet Knights, runners-up in the meet in each of the last three years, are in third place with 68 points this year. The Panthers notched 10 top-16 marks on Thursday morning, and four of those competitors will be in championship finals.
Notre Dame’s incredible depth was showcased in the 200-yard individual medley, as the Irish posted four of the top seven times. Leading the way was the defending conference champ, Carroll, who posted a time of 2:02.15 that was nearly a second better than anyone else. The time was a season best by more than 1.5 seconds for the Irish record holder who was honorable mention All-America after finishing ninth at last year’s NCAA Championships. It was her second NCAA “B” time in the 200 IM this season, meaning she will be considered for an invitation to this year’s NCAAs, slated for March 17-19 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
Right behind Carroll was sophomore Jessica Stephens (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg H.S.), who turned in a career best by more than 1.5 seconds with a time of 2:03.01, her first career NCAA “B” cut. Stephens did not swim the 200 IM at last year’s conference championships, and she was followed by Villanova sophomore Annie Kelley, who had another B cut, 2:03.40.
Junior Courtney Choura (Bridgeville, Pa./Oakland Catholic H.S.) secured her third consecutive top-10 finish in the 200 IM, qualifying fifth with a time of 2:05.53, a season best by nearly four seconds. She finished 10th last year after being seventh in 2003. Sophomore Ann Barton (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain H.S.) reached the championship final for the second year in a row, posting the seventh-fastest time in prelims, a 2:05.84 that was almost two seconds quicker than her previous season best. She finished fifth in last year’s BIG EAST meet.
Notre Dame also had two swimmers qualify for the consolation final, meaning six Irish student-athletes will swim the 200 IM on Thursday evening, while no other school will have more than three (Rutgers). Senior co-captain Georgia Healey (New York, N.Y./Trinity School) missed making it five ND swimmers in the championship final by just .06 seconds, still posting a career-best time – in her final collegiate meet – of 2:05.98 to qualify ninth, just behind Syracuse freshman Vanessa Duenas. Healey, who earned an evening swim in the event for the first time in her career, improved her season-best mark by more than three seconds. Freshman Kelly Battle (Allison Park, Pa./North Allegheny H.S.) also will swim Thursday evening after turning in a collegiate-best mark of 2:07.07, the 11th-best time.
Ellen Johnson, who did not swim the event at last year’s meet, improved on her collegiate best by more than four seconds in turning in the top time in the 500 free, a 4:50.29 that was almost one second better than the #2 qualifier, Kelly Harrigan of Rutgers (4:51.26). Johnson notched an NCAA “B” cut with the performance, making it the third event in which she has posted a B cut during her career (200 free and 200 back in 2003-04). She was the only Notre Dame swimmer to earn an evening swim in the 500 free.
Perry-Eaton, the BIG EAST Championships Most Outstanding Diver in both 2003 and ’04, established herself as easily the class of the field in one-meter diving, finishing with a score of 297.75 points that was 72.6 ahead of the #2 qualifier, Colleen Kristobak of Pittsburgh (225.15). Perry-Eaton, who was third at the 2004 NCAAs in one-meter competition, won BIG EAST titles in 2003 and ’04 in the event after being the runner-up in ’02. She remains the only non-University of Miami diver since 1996 to win a BIG EAST diving championship. Perry-Eaton was so dominant on Thursday afternoon that had she not taken her final dive and used only her five-dive score (247.05), she still would have topped the field by 21.90 points. Perry-Eaton is seeking to become just the second diver ever to win three consecutive BIG EAST titles in one-meter competition, a feat accomplished by Pittsburgh’s Sunday Lewandowski from 1994-96.
Irish freshman Tara Hyer (Tampa, Fla./Academy of the Holy Names) earned a spot in the one-meter diving final, qualifying fourth with a score of 221.20. She was behind her teammate, Kristobak, and Erica Moreland of Rutgers (224.65).
The final swimming event of Thursday’s prelims was the 50 freestyle, which saw Jordan Wallace of Pittsburgh qualify first in a time of 23.28, but Irish freshman Caroline Johnson (Springfield, Mo./Glendale H.S.) was right behind with a collegiate-best mark of 23.63. Sophomore Rebecca Grove (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown H.S.), who took third in the race last year, also earned a spot in the championship final with a time of 23.81 that ranked sixth among qualifiers. Freshman Katie Guida (Alexandria, Va./Gerogetown Visitation Preparatory School), who was seeded in a tie for 23rd, cut .71 seconds off her collegiate-best time to qualify 11th with a 23.97.
Thursday’s finals will begin at 6 p.m. (EST), and will feature the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, one-meter diving, and the 200-yard freestyle relay, an event which has Notre Dame seeded third behind Pittsburgh and Rutgers with a time of 1:36.36.