Feb. 1, 2002
Final Stats
TUCSON, Ariz. - Brooke Townsend and Amanda Stanford finished two-three in the 500-yard freestyle to lead Arizona State's seventh-ranked women's swimming and diving team through the first session of its dual with No. 2 Texas, Friday at the University of Arizona's Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.
Two of four swimmers to dip below the five-minute barrier that day, Townsend placed second in 4:58.79, while Stanford took third in 4:59.32, just ahead of Texas swimmer Valerie Oswald at 4:59.76. All three were well off the pace of the Longhorn's Lauren Theis, who won the event with a time of 4:52.96.
With Texas also being scored against the University of Arizona, ASU's dual with Texas is being staged in three sessions over two days. At the end of the first session, Texas leads 87-23.
Through six events, ASU has yet to earn first-place points. In the 200y individual medley, freshman ?gnes Kov?cs finished almost a full second behind UT's Joscelin Yeo (2:02.00), touching the wall in 2:02.97. Kov?cs was also member of the Sun Devils' 400y medley relay, which placed second in 3:47.87, less than four tenths off Texas' victorious 3:47.51 pace.
Other standout performances were turned in by Claire Hedenskog and Florencia Szigeti, who placed third and sixth in the 50y free in 23.86 and 24.16, respectively. For Hedenskog it was her fastest time since the Texas Invitational.
The other events held Friday afternoon were the 200y free relay and 1-meter springboard diving. An ASU team of Szigeti, Kari Wilcox, Florence Mauro and Hedenskog placed third in the 200y free relay in 1:35.26, while senior diver Natalie Burgess led the way for ASU with a fifth-place effort of 257.80 in the 1-meter springboard.
ASU and Texas will concluded their meet tomorrow afternoon. The second session is set to begin at 9:00 a.m., with the third and final session at 2:00 p.m.