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Home sweet home Georgia keeps lead at NCAA swimming championships
Posted: Friday March 19, 1999 11:25 PM
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Misty Hyman swam to victory in the 100-yard butterfly and was on two winning relay teams for Stanford, but host Georgia held on to its lead at the NCAA women's swimming and diving championships Friday. Stanford is seeking its sixth national title in seven years, while Georgia has never finished higher than third in the national championships. But the top-seeded Lady Bulldogs grabbed a lead on the first day of the meet without winning an event, then made it stand on Day 2. Led by Hyman, Stanford set an American record in the 200 medley relay and dominated the 800 freestyle relay, the final event of the night. That helped Stanford close the gap on Georgia, which leads with 323.5 points and finally captured its first victory when world champion Kristy Kowal defended her title in the 100 breaststroke. Stanford was second with 312 points and swapped places with Southern Methodist, which dropped to third with 273.5 points. No other school was even close to the leaders heading into Saturday's final night of competition. SMU's Martina Moravcova won the ninth individual title of her career in the 200 freestyle. If the Slovakian swimmer defends her title in the 100 freestyle Saturday, she will finish second in career wins to Tracy Caulkins of Florida. Caulkins won 12 individual titles before swimmers were limited to three individual events per championship. Kowal failed to break her American record of 59.05 seconds in the 100 breaststroke, still winning with a time of 59.25. But she said winning the national title comes above individual accomplishments. "How can I be disappointed with my second-best time ever?" she asked. "We're not worried about personal bests at all. We're worried about the team now. The higher we place, the more points it means for the team." Hyman, the 1998 NCAA swimmer of the year, was the star of the night for Stanford. She helped the Cardinal defend their title in the 200 medley relay, breaking their year-old NCAA record by three-hundredths of the second with a time of 1:37.77 Two events later, Hyman swam to victory on her own with a clocking of 51.77 in the 100 butterfly, even though a rule change prevented her trademark long underwater swims. Now, competitors must surface within 15 meters or face disqualification. "I thought it was a great race, especially since the change in the rules affected my technique," she said. "To come back and be as successful as I was makes me happy." Finally, Hyman swam the fastest leg of the 800 freestyle relay as Stanford ran away from the field in 7:06.22 - beating Arizona by nearly three seconds. Georgia had second-place finishes in both the 200 medley relay and 400 individual medley, Keegan Walkley giving the Lady Bulldogs valuable points in the latter race while freshman Maddy Crippen swam to Villanova's first national title ever. "I think [Saturday] morning is crucial," Georgia coach Jack Bauerle said, referring to the preliminary heats. "I mean, that's the meet. We have to do well early to win the meet." Moravcova had an easy time in the 200 freestyle, beating Arizona's Sarah Tolar by almost two seconds at 1:43.84. Other winners Friday were Marylyn Chiang of California in the 100 backstroke and Miami's Jenny Keim in 3-meter springboard diving. California was in fourth place with 234 points, followed by Arizona at 196, Southern California 195, Michigan 115, Virginia 109, Auburn 107 and Northwestern 99.
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