March 18, 1999

ATHENS, Ga. – After one day of competition, the Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving squad came away with an 11th in the 400 medley relay and a 16th-place finish in the 50 freestyle, earning four swimmers honorable mention All-America status at the 1999 NCAA Championships.

The 11th-place finish by the 400 medley relay team is the highest ever by a Notre Dame women’s relay team at the NCAAs. Freshman Kelly Hecking (Rutherford, N.J.), juniors Shannon Suddarth (Topeka, Kan.) and Elizabeth Barger (Littleton, Colo.) and sophomore Carrie Nixon (Ouray, Colo.) completed the event with a time of 3:43.50 to tie for 11th place with Texas. Stanford, meanwhile, won the event overall with a U.S. Open, American and pool record time of 3:33.75.

Nixon also got honorable mention All-America status with a 16th-place finish in the 50 freestyle (23.25). Nixon, who finished 27th in the 50 freestyle in 1998, joins Suddarth (now a four-time All-American), Linda Gallo, Erin Brooks and Tanya Williams as the only Notre Dame women’s swimmers to earn All-America status more than once.

The 1999 NCAA Championships continue Friday with the 200 medley relay, 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 800 freestyle relay and the three-meter diving competition. Preliminaries begin at 11 a.m., while the finals start at 7 p.m.

NCAA Championships — Day One

Day One Final Results

400 Medley Relay
Championship Final – 1. Stanford (3:33.75); 2. SMU (3:35.42); 3. Georgia (3:35.62); 4. California (3:37.48); 5. USC (3:37.70); 6. Arizona (3:39.53); 7. Virginia (3:39.69); 7. Northwestern (3:42.29).

Consolation Final – 9. Auburn (3:40.12); 10. UCLA (3:42.91); 11. NOTRE DAME (3:43.50); 11. Texas (3:43.50); 13. Florida (3:44.55); 14. Tennessee (3:44.71); 15. Nevada (3:45.94); Minnesota (3:45.95).

50 Freestyle
Championship Final – 1. Catherine Fox, Stanford, 22.13; 2. Courtney Allen, Northwestern, (22.47); 3. Karen Campbell, USC, (22.52); 4. Rania Elwani, SMU, Therese Alshammar, Nebraska, Courtney Shealy, Georgia (22.60); 7. Rebecca Cronk, Virgina, (22.69); 8. Jennifer Christy, Indiana, (22.80).

Consolation Final – 1. KatieTaylor, Auburn, (22.72); 10. Stefanie Williams, Georgia, (22.74); 11. Jenny Crisman, Michigan, (22.78); 12. Keiko Price, UCLA, (22.93); 13. Jennie Eberwin, Michigan, (22.99); 14. Jia Lin Sun, Nevada, (23.01); 15. Alison Wimer, SMU, (23.09); 16. Carrie Nixon, Notre Dame, (23.25).