Women's Swimmers Kick off NCAAs in 13th
March 20, 2003 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Sophomore Carly Piper and the Badgers' 200 free relay put the Wisconsin women 's swimmers in 13th place after day one at the 2003 NCAA Championships in Auburn, Ala. Host Auburn leads the meet with 168.5 points, while Wisconsin accumulated 33 points in two events Thursday.
Piper earned the Badgers' best national finish since 2001 with a fourth-place touch in the 500 free. She advanced to the 500 free finals by placing eighth in the morning prelims and in the night's finals Piper broke the school record in the event. Piper's 4:41.23 tops Ellen Stonebraker's 4:41.26 set in 1999. Piper has reset Stonebraker's UW marks in the 500, 1000 and 1650 free this season. It is Wisconsin's highest national finish in an event since Stonebraker took third in the 200 free in 2001.
With her top-eight finish, Piper earned All-American honors. It is her second All-America finish in the 500 free and third overall.
The Badgers' 200 free relay advanced to the consolation finals and won the heat in the evening. Jenny Lyman led off the quartet and Betsy Hassebroek, Sarah Hernandez and Sarah McCauley followed to touch in ninth overall at 1:31.16. Lyman, Hassebroek and McCauley are all repeat honorable mention All-Americans with the ninth-place finish, while Hernandez earns her first national honor.
'We just had some jitters this morning,' coach Eric Hansen said. 'But we knew we'd have solid swims at night. I was pleased with how we swam tonight, but we just need to get more opportunities.'
The Badgers, who held fifth place after the first two events today, look for more opportunities to crack into the top-10 when NCAA action continues Friday and Saturday. Prelims start at 11 a.m. and finals begin at 7 p.m.
