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Home pool advantage? Georgia women lead way at NCAA swimming championships
Posted: Thursday March 18, 1999 10:39 PM
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- Because Stanford didn't have a scholarship for Martina Moravcova of Slovakia three years ago, Georgia and Southern Methodist were perched atop the 18th NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships after the first day of competition. Moravcova led SMU to second place by winning the 200-yard individual medley and leading off the winning 200-freestyle relay team. She was also on the second-place 400 medley relay. Counting the preliminaries, she swam the maximum six races Thursday. Host Georgia led with 143 1/2 points, followed by SMU with 137 1/2. Defending champion Stanford was third with 129 points. With Moravcova, they would have easily have been way out front. "If you are going to pick a way to go to sleep, I guess this would be it," Georgia coach Jack Bauerle said. "Certainly, we are excited to be where we are, but Stanford has some great stroke people, as does SMU." Georgia's Kristy Kowal was the only other swimmer to swim the maximum six races Thursday. In the medley relay, she was only swimmer to break 1 minute on the breaststroke split, and she did it twice. "If we could let her swim that one event, there is no doubt she would break the American record," Bauerle said. "But we have to hitch our wagon to her and go." Moravcova's win in the 200 individual medley was the eighth individual title of her college career. Only two collegians, Florida's Tracy Caulkins with 12 and Stanford's Jenny Thompson with nine, have won more. Moravcova can pass Thompson if she defends individual titles in the 100 and 200 freestyle events. Her time of 1:55.64 was one-tenth of a second off the 7-year-old NCAA record set by Olympian Summer Sanders. "I hoped I could beat that record," Maravcova said. "I usually bring that last 50 free home a lot faster. But I'm pleased. It was my best time ever, and we had an awesome day as a team." Moravcova found her way to SMU after she called Stanford and was told it wasn't interested. The Mustangs also got important points from diver Jenny Lingamfelter, who won the 1-meter event with 444.40 points. Rounding out the top 10 were Southern Cal with 93 points, Arizona with 90, California with 89, Northwestern with 68, Michigan with 54, Virginia with 50 and Auburn with 48. Georgia led without winning a race, capitalizing instead on its depth. Julie Varozza finished fourth in the 500 freestyle, which Bauerle called the "most remarkable swim of the day." On Thanksgiving Day, Varozza wondered whether she could even reach the finals after a bout with mononucleosis sidelined her. She missed thousands of yards a day in her training regimen. "That can be devastating for a distance swimmer," Bauerle said. Southern Cal senior Lindsay Benko returned to the winner's circle in the 500-freestyle (4:40.22) for the third time in her collegiate career, thanks in part to the absence of Columbia swimmer Cristina Teuscher, the 1998 champion. Teuscher had the top times in the nation again, but she skipped the meet during her school's spring break to visit extended family in Argentina before launching an intense training program for the 2000 Olympics. Stanford's Catherine Fox successfully defended her 50-freestyle championship with a 22.13 time. The meet continues through Saturday.
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