March 19, 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Arizona State University women's swimming and diving team completed preliminary action on the third and final day of competition at the 2005 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships held at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center, qualifying six for the finals held Friday evening. Finals are set to begin at 7 p.m. (EST).
Senior All-American Ágnes Kovács finished eighth in the preliminary swim of the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:12.86. Kovács finished second at the Pac-10 Championships in the 200 breaststroke, where she swam a season-best time of 2:11.91. She has finished in the top-five in the 200 breaststroke at the three previous NCAA Championships, with a personal-best finish in 2002 in a school-record setting performance of 2:07.64. Kovács entered the NCAAs with the sixth-fastest time in the nation.
Senior All-American Trisha Tumlinson qualified for the finals Saturday evening with a eighth-place finish in the preliminaries on the platform with a score of 440.30. Tumlinson entered the NCAA Championships as the Pac-10 Champion and NCAA Zone E Regional Champion in the platform event. She took second-place at the 2004 NCAA Championships with a score of 454.35.
The 400 freestyle relay team of Caitlin Andrew, Erin Baldinger, Florencia Szigeti and Heidi Schmidt swam into a 15th-place with a preliminary time of 3:23.24. The quartet qualified for the consolation finals to be held Saturday evening.
Sophomore Christine Creek and Schmidt were also in action in the 200 breaststroke for the Sun Devils. Creek, who has the second-fastest time on the season, swam a personal-best time of 2:15.24 to place 21st. Her time solidifies her spot in the ASU record books as fifth on the all-time top-ten. Schmidt, who competed Friday in the 100 breaststroke, placed 28th with a time of 2:16.79. Schmidt swam a season-best in the 200 breaststroke (2:16.28) at the Pac-10 Championships, putting her seventh on the all-time list.
In the 100 freestyle, senior All-American and school-record holder Szigeti and freshman Andrew hit the water, swimming to 25th and 37th-place, respectively. Szigeti touched the wall in a time of 49.84 while Andrew finished in 50.36. Andrew's 100 freestyle time of 50.27 that she set at the Pac-10 Championships put her fourth on the ASU all-time top-ten list.
Also in action for the Sun Devils on the final day of competition is freshman Sarah A Fischer and junior Kathryn Hennessy in the 1650 freestyle event. Results will be reported later this evening.
Finals for the final of competition begin at 7 p.m. (EST) at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.