Tribe Women Send 10 to Saturday’s Finals

10 of 13 Swimmers Advance from Preliminaries

03/01/08 1:35PM

FAIRFAX, VA - The William and Mary women’s swimming and diving team continued the hot streak it started Friday night by qualifying 10 of 13 swimmers on Saturday morning to the final session, including four athletes who will contend for conference titles on the last day of the CAA Championships. The Tribe remains well in the hunt for second place, only 18 points behind current runner-up UNC Wilmington, while Towson all but sewed-up its first conference championship with 609.5 points at the end of prelims.

Saturday's Preliminary Results

In the 200 backstroke, senior captain Meredith David (Somerdale, N.J.) is seeded fifth in the championship heat after timing 2:05.20 this morning. Sophomore Suzanne Figuers (Cary, N.C.) is seeded fourth in the consolation flight after touching the wall in 2:07.91.

Five women advanced in the 100 free, led by Katie Radloff (Arlington, Va.), who posted the morning’s top performance of 50.03 seconds to lead the championship final. Sophomore Lindsay Guers (Orwigsburg, Pa.) is the top seed in the consolation finals with a time of 52.21 seconds, and will be surrounded by teammates in the race, as freshman Emily Burns (Snellville, Ga.) timed 52.35 seconds and junior Marina Falcone (Potomac, Md.) finished in 52.55 seconds to advance as the second and third seeds in the flight. Burns’ personal-record performance moves her up the all-time performer’s list to sixth. Senior Christina Monsees (Brewster, N.Y.) also swam a personal-best to advance as the seventh seed in the consolation finals, timing 53.04 seconds to become the 11th-fastest sprinter in school history.

In the 200 fly, junior Whitney Pezza (Warrenton, Va.) and sophomore Erin Welshofer (Charlotte, N.C.) advanced to the championship heat as the fourth and fifth seeds, respectively. Pezza finished in 2:04.74, and Welshofer touched in 2:05.04 to earn the spots, both of which are faster times than anyone but those two girls have ever swum at the College. Sophomore Laura Herrmann (Fairfax Station, Va.) swam 2:07.99 to make the consolation finals as the fifth-seed.

The finals of the 1,650 free start at 3:30 p.m., and the finals for all other events, including the 400 free relay, begin at 6 p.m.

CAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships
1. Towson 609.5
2. UNC Wilmington 389
3. George Mason 382
4. WILLIAM AND MARY 371
5. Northeastern 289.5
6. Delaware 275
7. James Madison 257
8. Drexel 182
9. Old Dominion 178