Dec. 16, 2002
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Sophomore All-American swimmer ?gnes Kov?cs earned two finishes in the top five at last weekend's European Short Course Championships in Riesa, Germany while swimming for her native Hungary. In this short course meters event (NCAA swims short course yards), she was third in the 100 breast (1:07.97) and fifth in the 200 breast (2:24.79). In her specialty of long course meters, Kov?cs is one of the best swimmers in the world and is the defending Olympic and World Champion in the 200 breast.
Due to the fact that the 2000 NCAA Championships were held in short course meters for the first time, the NCAA has since had available conversion factors to estimate what times are equal in yards or meters. Using these factors to convert Kov?cs' times at the European 25-meter Championships to short course yards times, her 1:07.97 in the 100 breast factors to 1:00.90, while her 200 breast time (2:24.79) is roughly equivalent to a 2:09.73 in a 25-yard pool.
As a Sun Devil, Kov?cs has recorded personal bests of 59.92 in the 100 breast and a school record of 2:07.64 in the 200 breast. She recorded the 100 breast time the weekend of December 5-7 at the Texas Invitational, and it is believed that she became only the second woman in NCAA history to swim the 100 breast in under a minute outside of the NCAA Championships.
Kov?cs and the Sun Devil women's swimming and diving team will next be in action on January 4, at 9 a.m., when they and the men's squad co-host Missouri and Wyoming at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. The men's swimming team only will be in action on January 2, at 9 a.m., against Harvard.