ATHENS, Ga. — The LSU women’s 400 freestyle relay team shattered a 13-year old school record Saturday as the Lady Tigers wrapped up the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships with a 32nd-place finish at the Gabrielsen Natatorium.
LSU tallied 12 points during the three-day meet, while Auburn claimed the national title by a three-point margin over defending champion Georgia. Auburn earned a critical third-place finish in the meet’s final event, the 400 free relay final, to post a 518.5-515.5 victory over the homestanding SEC foe.
In the morning preliminaries of the 400 free, LSU’s group of Katherine Noland, Colleen Bertirotti, Katie Gilmore and Heather Brand posted a school record with a clocking of 3:22.21. The Lady Tigers’ previous best time was 3:23.30 at the SEC Championships, but the group shaved a second off the time.
The mark was a second better than that of the previous school record claimed in 1993 by Cindy Unruh, Heather Hageman, Lucy Findlay and Jessica Montegut.
The school-record setter was a fitting way to go out for Brand, who wrapped up her career on Saturday. The senior not only anchored the 400 free relay, but helped the group break a school record in the 200 free at the SEC Championships last February.
Bertirotti notched LSU’s best time in the 100 free prelims. The junior swam the third-best mark in school history with a career-high clocking of 50.42 to place 39th. Noland finished 54th (50.81) and Gilmore took 63rd (51.26). Both Noland and Gilmore concluded successful freshman seasons and have three years left of eligibility.
Meanwhile, the LSU men’s basketball team won’t be the only school contingent of NCAA participants on Thursday in Atlanta, Ga. Freshman swimmer Julius Gloeckner and sophomore diver Niko Dalman compete at the Men’s NCAA Championships from Georgia Tech’s Aquatic Center.
2006 Women’s NCAA Championships
Gabrielsen Natatorium
Athens, Ga.
Final Team Standings
1. Auburn — 518.5
2. Georgia — 515.5
3. Arizona — 415
4. California — 291
5. Stanford — 209
6. Southern Cal — 193
7. SMU — 161.5
8. Texas — 151
9. Wisconsin — 146
10. Florida — 135
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32. LSU — 12
32. UC-Irvine — 12
32. Ohio State — 12