The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Women's Swimming and Diving preview: 2009 NCAA Championships
03.17.2009 | Women's Swimming and Diving
March 17, 2009
WHAT: No. 3 Texas wraps up the season at the 2009 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.
WHERE: Student Rec Center Natatorium - College Station, Texas
WHEN: Thursday, March 19 - Saturday, March 21; swimming preliminary rounds begin at 11 a.m. Central each day, while the diving prelims begin at 1:30 each afternoon. The finals get underway at 7 p.m. each night.
LIVE RESULTS: http://www.aggieathletics.com/ncaa2009/swimming/women/stats.html
VIDEO: http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/specialevents/womensncaa2009/
TEXAS QUALIFIES 11 SWIMMERS FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
No. 3 Texas has qualified 11 swimmers for this week's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Senior Hee-Jin Chang will make her fourth consecutive appearance at the NCAA meet and will enter the 50 freestyle as the third seed with a time of 21.78. Chang is a member of UT's 200 freestyle relay that will be seeded ninth at the event and the school record-setting 400 freestyle relay that ranks second in the country.
Freshman Leah Gingrich is seeded 15th in the 500 freestyle (4:40.18), while sophomore Ashleigh McCleery is seeded 21st (4:41.78) and junior Susana Escobar is seeded 22nd (4:41.87). Freshman Kathleen Hersey holds top-five seeds in three individual events. Hersey is seeded fifth in the 200 IM (1:55.29), fourth in the 400 IM (4:03.88) and fourth in the 200 butterfly (1:53.38).
Freshman Karlee Bispo, the school-record holder in the 200 freestyle event, is seeded fifth in that event and seventh in the 100 freestyle. Sophomore Carlye Ellis will make her first NCAA Championships appearance and will be seeded 26th in the 100 breaststroke. Ellis will handle the breaststroke on UT's 200 and 400 medley relays, seeded seventh and 10th, respectively.
Freshman Katie Riefenstahl is seeded 12th in the 200 backstroke, and senior Jacqueline Martin-Lacey earned the 36th seed in the 200 butterfly for her second NCAA Championships appearance. Sophomore Natalie Sacco has earned her second consecutive NCAA Championships bid and is seeded 27th in the 1,650 freestyle. Sophomore Brie Powers will compete as a member of UT's 200 freestyle relay.
ALL-AMERICA DIVING DUO RETURNS
Senior All-America divers Kathryn Kelly and Jessica Livingston and freshman diver Shelby Cullinan qualified for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the NCAA Zone "D" Diving Meet held last weekend in Columbia, Mo. Livingston qualified by taking second in the three-meter event, and Kelly secured her berth by taking second in the one-meter event.
Cullinan earned her first NCAA appearance by winning the platform event at the zone meet. Livingston won the NCAA platform title in 2007, and Kelly took third in the three-meter event and fourth in the one-meter event at the 2008 NCAA Championships.
TEXAS CAPTURES BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
Trailing by two points heading into the final session of action, No. 3 Texas captured all six events and pulled away in the team standings to capture the 2009 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships on Feb. 28 at the Mizzou Aquatics Center. It marked the first Big 12 women's swimming and diving championship for Texas since the 2006 season and the first for third-year head coach Kim Brackin. Texas has now claimed nine of the 13 Big 12 Conference meets contested.
Texas took the team title with 893 points, and two-time defending conference champion Texas A&M placed second with 831 points. Missouri placed third with 582 points, and Kansas took fourth with 493 points. Iowa State took fifth with 332 points and Nebraska placed sixth with 298 points.
UT opened the first night of competition with winning times in the 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay that set new school and Big 12 Conference records. Freshman Katie Riefenstahl, sophomore Carlye Ellis, freshman Kathleen Hersey and senior Hee-Jin Chang took the 200 medley relay in 1:37.40. In the ensuing 800 freestyle relay, freshman Karlee Bispo led off in 1:43.69 to break her own school record of 1:43.84 in the 200 freestyle. Freshman Leah Gingrich, along with Riefenstahl and Hersey, finished off the relay in 6:58.37 to become UT's first 800 freestyle relay to break seven minutes.
Gingrich opened the day two finals with a new Big 12 meet record of 4:40.18 in the 500 freestyle. Freshman Kathleen Hersey added a new school, Big 12 and Big 12 meet record swim of 1:55.29 in the 200 IM. After setting new school, Big 12 and Big 12 meet records with a mark of 21.87 in the 50 freestyle preliminary round, senior Hee-Jin Chang finished off the victory in the evening with a time of 21.88. Senior Kathryn Kelly added a win in the one-meter diving event with 329.30 points before UT's 400 medley relay of Hersey, junior Alexi Spann, Chang and freshman Karlee Bispo was victorious in a new school record of 3:33.92.
Hersey chalked up her second individual win on day three, when she captured the 400 IM in 4:07.76. Bispo tacked on a 200 freestyle victory in 1:44.21, and Ellis collected her first Big 12 individual title by winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.74. Senior Jessica Livingston claimed the three-meter diving event with 362.00 points. Texas opened the evening with a one-two finish from Livingston and freshman Shelby Cullinan in the platform diving event.
Hersey and Riefenstahl added a one-two finish in the 200 backstroke. Hersey set new school and conference records with a winning time of 1:52.58. Bispo chipped in her second Big 12 individual title, as she won the 100 freestyle in 48.03.
Junior Susana Escobar won her second straight Big 12 title in the 1,650 freestyle in 16:13.53, and Gingrich scored her second Big 12 title in the 200 butterfly at 1:55.18. UT capped the meet with a thrilling win in the 400 freestyle relay, where Bispo, Chang, Riefenstahl and Hersey finished in 3:13.62.
LONGHORNS FINISH SOLID DUAL-MEET SEASON
A difficult dual-match season awaited Texas last October, but the Longhorns head into the conference championships with only one defeat among its nine dual-meet victories. Texas opened the season on Saturday, Oct. 18 with a 175-123 victory at No. 5 California. Freshman Kathleen Hersey was selected as the National College Swimmer of the Week by CollegeSwimming.com after breaking a 22-year-old school record in the 200 butterfly and winning two additional individual events. UT's freshman class collected eight individual victories in the win at California, where Bispo made her mark with a win over Olympic silver medalist Sara Isakovic in the 200 freestyle.
UT tallied eight relay victories to capture the annual Big 12 Relays on Friday, Oct. 24 at Kansas' Robinson Natatorium. The Horns totaled 102 points to edge Texas A&M, who registered 98 points. The victory was Texas' first at the Big 12 Relays since 2005. Texas hit the road on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 and returned from Ann Arbor, Mich., with a pair of wins over Indiana and Michigan. UT knocked off Indiana by a 211-178 count and defeated Michigan by a 259-130 margin. Texas returned to the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center and posted a 153-109 victory over Washington on Nov. 21.
Texas wrapped up the fall with perhaps the most productive non-championship meet in the program's history after shattering eight school records and four Big 12 Conference records at the Texas Invitational. Hersey rewrote five school records and three individual Big 12 records while helping break school and Big 12 records in the 400 freestyle relay and the school record in the 800 freestyle relay. Freshman Karlee Bispo took down Whitney Hedgepeth's school mark in the 200 freestyle that had stood for 17 seasons.
Bispo, senior Hee-Jin Chang, freshman Katie Riefenstahl and Hersey broke the school record in the 400 freestyle relay, and freshman Leah Gingrich joined Bispo, Hersey and Riefenstahl to topple the school mark in the 800 freestyle relay. The Longhorns won 11 of 14 events en route to a 129-109 victory at No. 5 Auburn on Thursday, Jan. 8. Senior diver Kathryn Kelly, junior swimmer Susana Escobar and freshman swimmers Kathleen Hersey and Karlee Bispo tallied two wins apiece, as Texas swept all three diving events and won eight of nine individual swimming events. The win marked Texas' first victory over Auburn in the three dual meets between the two schools and the Horns' second victory of the season over a top-five opponent.
Texas won nine events but suffered its first defeat of the season on Jan. 10 at No. 1 Georgia, 159-141. Freshman Kathleen Hersey led the Horns with two individual wins, and freshman Shelby Cullinan and senior Kathryn Kelly led a Longhorns sweep of the diving events.
Texas claimed 11 of 16 events en route to a 169-131 victory at No. 8 Texas A&M on Jan. 23 in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown at Texas A&M's Student Rec Center Natatorium. The victory was the Longhorns' first over the Aggies since 2006 and the first win at the Aggies' home pool since 2005.
On Jan. 30 and 31, Texas picked up a bundle of strong performances in a 186.5-162.5 victory over defending NCAA Champion Arizona. The season culminated with an 87-51 victory on Feb. 11 at Houston, four days after Texas defeated SMU on Senior Day in Austin by a 150-87 count.
ONE MEET, 11 RECORDS FOR HERSEY
Freshman Kathleen Hersey led an assault on the UT and Big 12 Conference records at the Texas Invitational (Dec. 4-6). The Beijing Olympian toppled five individual school records, two individual conference records, tied another individual conference record and assisted on two new school relay records and one conference relay record.
Hersey, who broke UT's school record in the 200 butterfly in her first collegiate swim last fall at California, claimed the school mark in the 100 backstroke when she led off UT's 400 medley relay 53.37. Hersey claimed the 100 butterfly school mark in 51.40 and rewrote her 200 butterfly school record in 1:53.38. Hersey set a new school mark in the 200 IM preliminary rounds and rewrote it in the finals. Hersey unofficially broke the 400 IM school record during the annual Orange-White exhibition meet and officially claimed the record in 4:03.88 at the Texas Invitational.
Hersey teamed up with senior Hee-Jin Chang and classmates Karlee Bispo and Katie Riefenstahl to take down the school record in the 400 freestyle relay. She joined Bispo, Riefenstahl and freshman Leah Gingrich to obliterate the school mark in the 800 freestyle relay.
MEMORABLE START FOR BISPO
Texas freshman Karlee Bispo kicked off her UT career in familiar surroundings when she and the Longhorns opened the season last October at the University of California, about a 90-minute drive from her hometown of Modesto, Calif. The former national high school record holder in the 200 freestyle took on California's Sara Isakovic, a silver medalist in the 200-meter freestyle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Bispo narrowly knocked off the Olympic medalist in 1:46.68 while helping the Horns to victory over the Golden Bears.
Bispo's performance at California was a sign of things to come. At the Texas Invitational, Bispo broke Whitney Hedgepeth's school record in the 200 freestyle that had stood for over 16 years. She won the event in a new school mark of 1:43.84 and later led off UT's record-setting 800 freestyle relay that finished in 7:01.64. She has since earned a mention on Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd page and has been selected as the National Women's College Swimmer of the Week by CollegeSwimming.com.
MORE ON THE LONGHORNS
Under the direction of third-year head coach Kim Brackin, Texas returned 17 letter winners from the 2008 squad that placed 14th at the NCAA Championships. Heading the returnees are Escobar and Chang. Escobar placed seventh in the 500-yard freestyle at the 2008 NCAA Championships, and Chang added a 14th-place showing in the 50 freestyle. Also returning are senior All-America divers Kathryn Kelly and Jessica Livingston, the 2007 NCAA platform champion who was tabbed the Big 12 Women's Diver of the Week on Dec. 17.
Texas features the nation's top incoming freshman class, headed by Hersey, Riefenstahl, Gingrich and Bispo. Hersey was one of six current college swimmers to represent the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Hersey was one of three current American-born college swimmers, joining USC's Rebecca Soni and Stanford's Elaine Breeden, to qualify individually for an Olympic final.
Hersey, who holds the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center record in the 200-meter butterfly (2:07.13), took eighth in the 200-meter butterfly final in Beijing. Hersey also was a U.S. Olympic Trials finalist in the 400-meter individual medley, where she placed fifth. Riefenstahl placed eighth in the 100-meter backstroke and sixth in the 200-meter backstroke at the U.S. Olympic Trials. She added a 13th-place showing in the 200-meter freestyle at Trials.
Gingrich placed eighth in the 800-meter freestyle and the 200-meter butterfly at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Bispo set a national high school record in the 200-yard freestyle (1:45.14) on May 11, 2008 at the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) San Joaquin Section Championships (record has since been broken). The Big 12 Conference coaches selected Bispo as the league's Women's Swimmer of the Week on Oct. 29 and Nov. 12.
TEXAS' NCAA QUALIFIERS
Karlee Bispo (Fr., Modesto, Calif.)
- 2009 Big 12 Champion (100 free, 200 free, 400 free relay, 800 free relay, 400 medley relay)
- Owns or co-owns four school records (200 freestyle, 1:43.69; 400 F.R., 3:11.82; 800 F.R., 6:58.37; 400 M.R., 3:33.92)
- Seeded 5th in the 200 freestyle (1:43.69), 7th in the 100 freestyle (47.93) and 13th in the 50 freestyle (22.20)
- Selected as the National Women's College Swimmer of the Week on Feb. 3
- Former national high school record holder, 200 freestyle
- Won all 89 races in high school
Hee-Jin Chang (Sr., Seoul, South Korea)
- 2008 Beijing Olympian (50m free, 100m free)
- Four-time All-American
- 2009 Big 12 Champion (50 free, 200 M.R., 400 M.R., 400 F.R.)
- Owns or co-owns five school records (50 free, 21.87; 200 M.R., 1:37.40; 400 M.R., 3:33.92; 200 F.R., 1:28.93; 400 F.R., 3:11.82)
- Also ranks No. 2 all-time at UT in the 100 butterfly (52.30)
- Seeded 3rd in the 50 freestyle (21.87), 15th in the 100 butterfly (52.30) and 12th in the 100 freestyle (48.17)
Shelby Cullinan (Fr., Paradise Valley, Ariz.)
- Qualified for the NCAA Championships by winning the platform diving event at the NCAA Zone "D" Diving Meet
- Placed fourth in the platform event at the 2008 FINA Junior World Diving Championships in Aachen, Germany
- Placed fifth in the one-meter event and third in the three-meter event at the 2009 Big 12 Championships
Carlye Ellis (So., Ann Arbor, Mich.)
- 2009 Big 12 Champion (100 breaststroke, 200 M.R.)
- School record holder (200 M.R.)
- First NCAA Championships appearance
- Ranks third all-time at UT in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.74)
- Seeded 26th in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.74) and 52nd in the 200 breaststroke (2:15.19)
Susana Escobar (Jr., Queretaro, Mexico)
- 2008 Beijing Olympian (400m free, 800m free, 400 IM)
- 2008 All-American (placed seventh in the 500 free)
- Third consecutive NCAA Championships appearance
- 2009 Big 12 Champion (1,650 freestyle)
- Seeded 22nd in the 500 freestyle (4:41.87), 57th in the 200 freestyle (1:47.36) and 18th in the 1,650 freestyle (16:10.70)
Leah Gingrich (Fr., Enola, Pa.)
- Two-time finalist, 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials (200m butterfly, 800m freestyle)
- 2009 Big 12 Champion (500 freestyle, 200 butterfly)
- School record holder (800 F.R.)
- Ranks second all-time at UT in the 200 butterfly (1:55.18) and eighth in the 500 freestyle (4:40.18)
- Seeded 15th in the 500 freestyle (4:40.18), 36th in the 1,650 freestyle (16:21.77) and 9th in the 200 butterfly (1:55.18)
Kathleen Hersey (Fr., Roswell, Ga.)
- 2008 Beijing Olympics finalist (placed eighth in the 200m fly)
- Four-time gold medalist, 2007 Pan American Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
- Holds 10 school records (6 individual, 4 relay: 100 back, 51.78; 200 back, 1:52.58; 100 fly, 51.40; 200 fly, 1:53.38; 200 IM, 1:55.29; 400 IM, 4:03.88; 400 F.R., 3:11.82; 800 F.R., 6:58.37; 200 M.R., 1:37.40; 400 M.R., 3:33.92)
- 2009 Big 12 Champion (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 back, 400 F.R., 800 F.R., 200 M.R., 400 M.R.)
- Seeded 5th in the 200 IM (1:55.29), 4th in the 400 IM (4:03.88) and fourth in the 200 butterfly (1:53.38)
- Selected three times this season as the National Women's College Swimmer of the Week
Kathryn Kelly (Sr., Longwood, Fla.)
- Three-time All-American
- Landed career-high finishes of 3rd in the three-meter event and 4th in the one-meter event at the 2008 NCAA Championships
- Fourth consecutive NCAA Championships appearance
- Qualified for the 2009 NCAA Championships by placing second in the one-meter event at the NCAA Zone "D" Diving Meet - 2009 Big 12 Champion (one-meter diving)
- 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American
Jessica Livingston (Sr., The Woodlands, Texas)
- 2007 NCAA Champion (platform diving)
- Finalist at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Diving Trials
- Three-time All-American
- 2009 Big 12 Champion (three-meter diving, platform diving)
- 2008 U.S. Spring National Champion (10m synchro w/Texas-Ex Laura Wilkinson)
- Sister of NCAA men's diving qualifier Drew Livingston, a freshman at Texas
Jacqueline Martin-Lacey (Sr., Nashville, Tenn.)
- Second NCAA Championships appearance
- Qualified for the NCAA Championships with a 200 butterfly time of 1:57.32 registered in December at the Texas Invitational
- Seeded 36th in the 200 butterfly (1:57.32)
- Placed 33rd in the 200 butterfly at the 2007 NCAA Championships
- Placed third in the 200 butterfly (1:58.10) at the 2009 Big 12 Championships
Ashleigh McCleery (So., Main Beach, Queensland, Australia)
- First NCAA Championships appearance
- Seeded 21st in the 500 freestyle (4:41.78), 65th in the 200 freestyle (1:47.80), and 41st in the 1,650 freestyle (16:25.65)
- Placed third in the 1,650 freestyle (16:25.65), won the 500 freestyle "B" final (4:41.78) and placed eighth in the 400 IM (4:19.07) at the 2009 Big 12 Championships
- Two-time finalist (200 IM, 400 IM) at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships
Brie Powers (So., Kalamazoo, Mich.)
- Second NCAA Championships appearance
- 2008 Honorable mention All-American
- School record holder (200 freestyle relay)
- Helped UT to 15th-place finishes in the 200 and 800 freestyle relays at the 2008 NCAA Championships
Katie Riefenstahl (Fr., Blue Bell, Pa.)
- Placed sixth in the 200m backstroke, eighth in the 100m backstroke and 13th in the 200m freestyle at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials
- 2009 Big 12 Champion (200 M.R., 400 F.R., 800 F.R.)
- Co-owns four school relay records (200 F.R., 400 F.R., 800 F.R., 200 M.R.)
- Seeded 43rd in the 200 freestyle (1:46.66), 36th in the 100 backstroke (53.50) and 12th in the 200 backstroke (1:53.70)
- Placed second in the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke at the 2009 Big 12 Championships
Natalie Sacco (So., Dallas, Texas)
- Second NCAA Championships appearance
- Placed 25th in the 1,650 freestyle (16:29.57) and 43rd in the 500 freestyle (4:50.20) at the 2008 NCAA Championships
- Seeded 27th in the 1,650 freestyle (16:15.13) and 56th in the 500 freestyle (4:46.76)
- Placed fourth in the 1,650 freestyle (16:27.26) at the 2009 Big 12 Championships
- 2008 Big 12 Conference Co-Newcomer of the Year
