COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The LSU women’s 200-yard freestyle relay foursome of Jane Trepp, Katie Gilmore, Monica McJunkin and Katherine Noland captured honorable mention All-America honors Thursday night in the opening session of the 2009 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in College Station, Texas.
After improving its school-record time with a mark of 1 minute, 29.09 seconds to take 10th in the preliminaries, the team swam a time of 1:29.31 to tie for third in the consolation final and place 11th overall.
McJunkin, a senior making her first NCAA appearance, spearheaded her squad with a pair of blistering 50-yard splits from the third leg of the relays in both the prelims and finals. The Charlotte, N.C., native recorded a split of 21.68 in the morning before swimming a 21.76, the second-fastest split of the consolation final, in the evening.
The Lady Tigers’ 400 medley relay squad finished 17th with a time of 3:38.09.
In individual racing, Trepp and Gilmore each placed in the top-35 of the 50 freestyle. Trepp finished 31st overall with a time of 22.55, just six one-hundredths of a second off her school-record mark, while Gilmore tied for 33rd-place with a new career best of 22.57, the second-fastest sprint in program annals.
Several NCAA, American and U.S. Open records fell on Day 1 as Arizona’s 200 freestyle relay group overtook the previous record with a time of 1:26.20 behind Lara Jackson’s record-setting lead-off split of 21.27. The Wildcats also shattered the 400 medley relay mark with a time of 3:28.31, and Jackson claimed the 50-free crown in individual competition.
Stanford’s Julia Smit improved her record time in the 200 individual medley to take top honors with a mark of 1:52.79, while Allison Schmitt of Georgia became the first NCAA Champion from the Southeastern Conference, winning the 500 free with a time of 4:35.17.
Houston’s Olympian Anastasia Pozdniakova emerged victorious in the one-meter dive with a score of 351.15.
The Lady Tigers will race in the 200 medley relay and a number of individual races on Friday. McJunkin will swim in the 100 backstroke, and Noland, Trepp and Gilmore will line up in the 100 butterfly. Noland will also compete in the 200 free.
The prelims will begin at 11 a.m. (CDT), and the finals will be at 7 p.m. A link to live video and live results will be provided by www.LSUsports.net.
2009 NCAA Championships — Schedule of Events
Friday, March 20, 2009
Prelims ? 11 a.m.
200-yard Medley Relay
400-yard Individual Medley
100-yard Butterfly
200-yard Freestyle
100-yard Breaststroke
100-yard Backstroke
800-yard Freestyle Relay (All but last three heats of timed finals)
Three-meter Diving (1:30 p.m.)
Finals ? 7 p.m.
200-yard Medley Relay
400-yard Individual Medley
100-yard Butterfly
200-yard Freestyle
100-yard Breaststroke
100-yard Backstroke
Three-meter Diving
800-yard Freestyle Relay (Last three heats of timed finals)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Prelims ? 11 a.m.
200-yard Backstroke
100-yard Freestyle
200-yard Breaststroke
200-yard Butterfly
400-yard Freestyle Relay
Platform Diving (1:30 p.m.)
1,650-yard Freestyle (All but last heat of timed finals)
Finals ? 7 p.m.
1,650-yard Freestyle (Last heat of timed finals)
200-yard Backstroke
100-yard Freestyle
200-yard Breaststroke
200-yard Butterfly
Platform Diving
400-yard Freestyle Relay