The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Women's Swimming and Diving in ninth after second day of NCAAs
03.17.2006 | Women's Swimming and Diving
ATHENS, Ga. -- The Texas women's swimming and diving team fell to ninth-place with 93 points despite a strong showing from junior Elizabeth Tinnon (Bowling Green, Ky.) in the 100-yard breaststroke on the second of three days of competition at the 2006 NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga., in Gabrielsen Natatorium.
Tinnon finished sixth in the finals of the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:00.91 to earn her second All-American honors of the meet, eighth of her career. Junior Leah Avilla (Livermore, Calif.) swam in the consolation finals of the 100-yard breaststroke to earn Honorable Mention All-American honors for the second-time in her career with a 10th-place overall finish in a season best time of 1:01.65.
The heartbreak of the day came in the 200-yard medley relay, when the team was disqualified for a false start during a transition mid-way through the race.
"The relay was a tough loss but the team responded well," said women's co-head coach Jill Sterkel. "We had some strong performances in our individual events today and just missed with some of our divers. Tomorrow will be another day to just toughen up and get it done."
Junior Connie Brown (Andover, Mass.) earned Honorable Mention All-American honors with a 15th overall finish, seventh in the consolation heat, of the 100-yard backstroke. Junior Katie Robinson (Dillsboro, Ind.) earned her third career Honorable Mention All-American certificate with a 12th-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly after a fourth-place finish in the consolation finals in a season best time of 54.05.
Texas ended the second day of competition with an 11th-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay in a time of 7:16.81. Senior Elizabeth Wycliffe (Kingston, Ontario) swam the opening leg in 2:14.28, followed by senior Amanda Larence (Nashville, Tenn.) with a split of 1:47.99, in the third spot was senior Kristy Siminski (Portage, Ind) with a split of 1:50.15 and junior Elaine Ferritto (Columbus, Ohio) took the anchor leg with a blistering time of 1:24.39. All four earned Honorable Mention All-American honors. For Siminski it was her fifth, Wycliffe her fourth, Ferritto her second and Larence her first time earning the accolade.
New leader Georgia took advantage of the individual events on the second day and now leads with 379 points, followed by Auburn in second with 326 points and Arizona is in third with 315 points.
The final day of competition will begin at 11.a.m. with preliminaries of the 1,650-yard Freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, platform diving and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Finals of all the day's events will begin at 7 p.m.
