Indiana University Athletics
Indiana Sends Eight to NCAA Championship
3/13/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
March 13, 2001
Indiana Sends Eight to NCAA Championship
Championship Preview
After nine dual meets, two invitationals, and a record shattering Big Ten performance, the NCAA has invited six Hoosiers to compete against the nation's best at the championship meet in Long Island, New York.
The meet will run in championship format over three days, with preliminary races at 11a.m. and finals at 7p.m. All diving trials will begin at 1p.m. The meet is hosted by the Eastern College Athletic Conference and will be held at the Nassau County Auatic Center.
Broadcast Info
The 2001 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships will be televised by ESPN on tape delay. Airdate is currently scheduled for March 23 at 2:00 pm eastern time. Be sure to check your local listing.
The Selection Process for Swimmers
The NCAA establishes "A" times and "B" times before each season. Any athlete that swims an A time during the season receives an automatic invitation to the NCAA Championship meet. Once the automatic qualifiers are invited, the NCAA invites the next fastest swimmers. Any athlete that is invited may swim any event that she has a B time in.
Indiana's NCAA Qualifiers by Name:
Sarah Bowman (200 free relay)
Jenn Cristy (50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 200 free relay)
Sarah Fiden (200 free, 500 free, 1650 free)
Tina Gretlund (200 IM, 200 fly)
Anne Williams (50 free, 200 free relay)
Susan Woessner (100 back, 200 back, 200 free relay)
Indiana's NCAA Qualifiers by Event:
200 free relay (Cristy, Bowman, Williams, Woessner)
500 free (Fiden)
200 IM (Gretlund)
50 free (Cristy, Williams)
100 fly (Gretlund)
200 free (Cristy, Fiden)
100 back (Woseener)
1650 free (Fiedn)
200 back (Woessner)
100 free (Cristy)
200 fly (Gretlund)
Indiana will also put together a 400 free, 800 free, 200 medley, and 400 medley relay team.
The Selection Process for Divers
This past weekend, Indiana hosted the zone C diving meet. Twenty schools sent divers with a minimum meet score in the season to compete for an invitation to the NCAA Championship. The top six divers from the weekend were invited to New York.
Erin Quinn locked up her invitation on the first event by scoring 508.95 points to win the three-meter board. She followed up on the second day taking second on one-meter with 281.50 points. Mamie Goodson qualified in the final event of the weekend, taking second on platform with 342.10 points.
Indiana's NCAA Divers:
Erin Quinn: 1m, 3m
Mamie Goodson: 1m, 3m, platform
Head Swimming Coach Dorsey Tierney
Dorsey Tierney is in her third year as head coach of the Indiana women's swim team. She was named 2001 Big Ten coach of the year en route to Indiana's best conference finish in 19 years. She is a gold medalist in 200-meter breaststroke in the 1987 Pan-American games and was a captain on the 1991 team. Tierney was also a finalist in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Trials.
Quoting Tierney
"Team-wise we want to put out our best showing, which is what we've been trying to do all year. I think realistically we can finish in the top 15. Idealistically, if all the stars were aligned, we could potentially move into the top 10. You never know what can happen at this meet. So if we could somehow sneak into the top 15 that would be great.
"For our relays, we're very fortunate that we have six individuals that are very versatile that can step up, and we can put them in any position and they'll perform and that's what we'll do this weekend. Tina will be huge in the relays. The fact that Tina made this meet is huge for us. She's our most versatile swimmer by far. I think we'll have a real good team atmosphere. They've fed off each other all year and will continue to do so.
"The preparation that we did early on this year is really showing now. Our conditioning is still real good, technique is still real good, timing, in many cases, is a little bit better, timing the strokes, starts, turns. What happens this weekend is largely due to the work we did in September, October, November, especially for distance and middle distance."
Diving Coach Jeff Huber
Head Diving Coach Dr. Jeff Huber is a six time Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year and two time U.S. National Diving Coach of the Year. He has coached 18 Big Ten Champions, seven Big Ten divers-of-the-year, and one Big Ten record holder. Huber added Olympic team coach to his resume when he coached Indiana diver Sara Reiling to a 13th place finish in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Quoting Huber
"We're going to go out and not treat this meet any differently. We're going to have to dive tough. It's a big meet and very competitive. I though we could have had five girls going. Mamie made it on tower, and I think Jessica Williams could have made it. She dove better at Big Tens. Jennifer Sonneborn and Cassie Cardinell were also very close. Hopefully we can bring back more spots for next year. I'd like to bring seven spots back. Eight would be fantastic."
Schedule of Events
Thursday Trials, 11:00 am March 15
Event
No. 1 200-yard freestyle relay
No. 2 500-yard freestyle
No. 3 200-yard individual medley
No. 4 50-yard freestyle
20 minute intermission
No. 6 400-yard medley relay
No. 5 One meter diving Trials-1:00 p.m.
Thursday Finals, 7:00 p.m. March 15
Event
No. 1 200-yard freestyle relay
No. 2 500-yard freestyle
No. 3 200-yard individual medley
No. 4 50-yard freestyle
No. 5 One meter diving Finals
No. 6 400-yard medley relay
Friday Trials, 11:00 am March 16
Event
No. 7 200-yard medley relay
No. 8 400-yard individual medley
No. 9 100-yard butterfly
No.10 200- yard freestyle
No.11 100-yard breaststroke
No.12 100-yard backstroke
20 minute intermission
No. 14 800-yard freestyle relay
(All but last three heats of timed finals)
No.13 Three-meter diving Trials 1:00 p.m
Friday Finals, 7:00 p.m. March 16
Event
No. 7 200-yard medley relay
No. 8 400-yard individual medley
No. 9 100-yard butterfly
No. 10 200-yard freestyle
No. 11 100-yard breaststroke
No. 12 100-yard backstroke
No. 13 Three-meter diving Finals
No. 14 800-yard freestyle relay
(Last three heats of timed finals)
Saturday Trials, 11:00 am March 17
Event
No. 16 200-yard backstroke
No. 17 100-yard freestyle
No. 18 200-yard breaststroke
No. 19 200-yard butterfly
20 minute intermission
No. 21 400-yard freestyle relay
No. 20 Platform diving Trials 1:00 p.m.
No. 15 1650-yard freestyle
(all but last heat of timed finals)
Saturday Finals, 7:00 p.m. March 17
Event
No. 15 1650-yard freestyle
(last heat of timed finals)
No. 16 200-yard backstroke
No. 17 100-yard freestyle
No. 18 200-yard breaststroke
No. 19 200-yard butterfly
No. 20 Platform diving Finals
No. 21 400-yard freestyle relay
Please note:
* A consolation final shall immediately precede the championship final for each event except the 1650-yard freestyle and diving events.
*Eight lanes will be used in all swimming events.
*The 1650-yard freestyle event will begin at approximately 4:45 p.m., with thelast heat of preliminaries to end at approximately 6:00 p.m.
*Diving Trials will begin at 1:00 p.m.
Let the Records Fall
Two days before Indiana faced archrival Purdue, Megan Geers commented on the status of the record books. "I think everybody needs to concentrate on doing their personal best and the records will just come with that."
At Purdue, Susan Woessner broke three records in her 100 back against Purdue. She touched the wall in 55.60, a personal best which broke her own school record of 55.80 set at the Big Ten Championship last year. This also sets a new Lambert Pool record, previously held by Nicole Dreesen of Northwestern.
The fever caught on at the Big Ten Championship, where Indiana had four All-Big Ten selections, set 16 school records, and had 36 personal records during the championship.
The Rest of the Story
Indiana broke 16 school records at the Big Ten Championship, and lowered one again at a last chance meet at Michigan. This is the story of how the Hoosiers re-wrote the record boks.
50 free: Jenn Cristy broke the 50 free record three times in one day. In her preliminary 50 free, she captured the top seed in 22.54. Cristy led off the 200-yd free relay that night in 22.45 for a new record. In her final 50 free swim, she broke her own record for the third time in eight hours in winning the event in 22.32.
100 free: Jenn Cristy brok this record twice, first in her 100 free prelim, taking the No. 1 seed in 49.22, and again in the finals winning her third event of the Championship in 49.14.
200 free: Jenn Cristy led off the 800-yd free relay in 1:48.64 for the school record.
500 free: Sarah Fiden moved from an eighth seed to a third place finish in breaking the 20 year-old school record in 4:46.99
1000 free: Megan Ryther broke this record in her 1650 free, producing a split of 10:00.02. The record stood for a few hours, until Sarah Fiden swam her 1650 free. She turned in a 1000 split of 9:54.23 for the record.
1650 free: Sarah Fiden completely took Jennifer Hooker out of the record books with her finish in 16:25.86, for second place.
100 back: Susan Woessner was the first to put the year 2001 in the record books. She swam a 55.66 against Purdue January 27 to break her own record. At the Big Ten Championship, she led off the 400-yd meley relay and lowered her time to 54.60. In the 100 back prelim, Woessner handed the fastest time of the weekend in 54.27.
200 back: Amanda Noblet would have successfully defended her record had Colleen McCracken not gotten to it first. McCracken clocked a 2:00.20
100 breast: Megan Geers took Jenn Cristy out of this category in the record book with her 10th place finish. She bettered Cristy's time by 0.01 in 1:03.63.
200 breast: Megan Geers broke her own record in her prelim race. She finished in 2:19.38.
200 fly: Tina Gretlund broke her own record three times this season. She swam a 2:01.32 in prelims and a 2:00.98 in finals. At Michigan, she had her best race of the season, clocking the 1:58. 92 that sends her to NCAAs.
200 IM: Tina Gretlund broke this 14 year-old record twice. She first swam a 2:04.06 in her prelim race, and then lowered it to a 2:02.91 in finals.
400 IM: Maggie Helemrs put her name in the record book for the first time with a prelim finish of 4:21.02.
The Best Since. . .
1982. . . Indiana's third place finish at the Big Ten Championship was its best since 1982, when they also took third.
1981. . . Indiana's last confernce championship came in 1981.
1985. . . Until last month, the last time Indiana had won a relay at the Big Ten Championship was in 1985, when the 200-yd medley relay took first. In 2001, Indiana won its first 200-yd free relay in 1:31.07. The Hoosiers have now won each relay.
1988. . . Indiana's dual meet record of 8-1 is the best mrak since when they went 9-1-1 in 1988. Indiana finished 41st nationally and sixth in conference that year.
Big Ten Honors for Quinn
Erin Quinn was named Big Ten diver of the week on January 9th. The award followed her 1 meter win in the collegiate division and her first place finish in the 3 meter dive-off at the Indiana Dive-off.
Big Ten Honors for Woessner
Susan Woessner was honored as co-Big Ten swimmer of the week after her record setting performance at Purude January 20. She swam the 100 back in 55.60 to break her own school record and set a new Lambert Pool record. Woessner shares the award with Katy Christoferson of Minnesota.
The Total Team Effort
In Indiana's win over Purdue, the Hoosiers set 19 season best times, most significantly Susan Woessner's 100 back in 55.60 to break her own school record. Kristy Martin and Meghan Rice led the team with three season bests each.
Priorities in Place
Indiana is on pace to repeat as one of the nation's best teams devoted to the true student-athlete. The Hoosiers finished the fall semester with a perfect 4-0 record, the Indiana Invite title, and a 3.48 GPA.
Last year, only IU and SMU placed in the top 25 in both athletic competition and GPA.
Big Ten Honors for Quinn
Erin Quinn was named Big Ten diver of the week on January 9th. The award followed her 1 meter win in the collegiate division and her first place finish in the 3 meter dive-off at the Indiana Dive-off.
Big Ten Honors for Cristy
Six first place finishes and two runner-up finishes led to Indiana senior Jenn Cristy's naming of co-Big Ten Swimmer of the Week November 21. Cristy won the 100 and 200 free, anchored the winning 200 and 400 free relays, and swam the free legs on the victorious 200 and 400 medley relays at the Indiana Invite November 17-19. She set season bests in the 50, 100, and 200 free, in 23.63, 50.88, and 1:51.43, respectively.
Cristy posted the fastest preliminary time in the 50 free and finished second in finals. She also took second in the 100 breast, after not having competed in the event since her freshman year.
