AUSTIN, Texas — The LSU women’s swimming and diving team received several strong performances on the final day of the competition at the 2002 Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday to finish 20th at the Jamail-Texas Swimming Center in Austin.
The Auburn Tigers won the championships with a final point total of 474. Georgia placed second and Stanford, led by Baton Rouge native Shelly Ripple finished third. All four athletes who competed at the meet for LSU earned All-America honors in their events. Junior Barb Gorst earned the honor in the platform, Jamie Watkins in each of the three diving events, Mandy Leach in the 100-yard butterfly, and sophomore Stephanie Smith in the 1650-freestyle.
Gorst finished sixth in the platform competition final on Saturday evening with a score of 404.20. Senior All-American and the defending 1-meter diving champion Watkins placed ninth, just missing the finals with a score of 410.45. The top eight divers in the event advanced to the finals. Southern California’s Blythe Hartley won the platform with a score of 460.35.
“We had a pretty solid effort from our divers here this weekend,” said Diving coach Scott Reich. “Jamie (Watkins) just missed qualifying for the finals with two 10th-place finishes and one ninth-place finish, but she got her recognition and did a great job.”
Stephanie Smith made her first-ever NCAA championships appearance a memorable one, as she swam the 1650-freestyle in a school-record time of 16:25.47 to finish 13th. The time breaks her old mark of 16:31.27 set at the Texas-Bevo Invitational on March 1, an event also held at the Jamail Center exactly four weeks ago. Her time in that meet set a new school record at the time.
“I felt really good in warmups today, but I was a little nervous since this was my first time at the NCAA Championships, and really only my third big meet in my career,” said Smith. “I swam well and ended up with a good time.”
The meet closed in dramatic fashion as Georgia’s team of Neka Mabry, Paige Kearns, Stefanie Williams and Maritza Correia won the 400-yard freestyle relay in a time of 3:13.71 to set an NCAA record. Auburn finished second with a time of 3:13.88.
Ripple, a 17-time All-American and former Parkview Baptist star, won the 200-yard butterfly and set an NCAA record with a time of 1:53.23. Teammate Tara Kirk won the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:07.36, also an NCAA record. Georgia’s Maritza Correia won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.56 and set an NCAA record in the process. California sophomore Natalie Coughlin won the 200-yard backstroke and set an NCAA record with a time of 1:49.52.
“We had a couple of goals heading into this meet and we achieved both of them tonight,” said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “We wanted to finish in the top 20, which we did, and have all four girls come back as All-Americans, and they did.”
The 20th-place finish marks the third-straight finish in the top 20 at the NCAA’s for the Lady Tigers, as they placed 16th in each of the past two seasons.
The 2002 Men’s Championships will be held March 28-30 at Athens, Ga.