Feb. 28, 1998

LONG BEACH, Calif. - The California Golden Bears finished fourth at the Pac-10 Championships (927.5 points), behind Stanford(1405.5 points) , USC (1210.5 points) and Arizona (1060.5 points).

The Bears were lead by sophomore Elli Overton who set three records. Overton won the 400 IM (4:11.68), breaking her old school record set last year and qualifying for NCAAs, and she captured first place in the 200 IM (1:58.25), setting a Pac-10 meet record, setting a school record and automatically qualifying for the NCAAs. Overton also took second in the 200 fly with a time of 1:57.64, also qualifying for NCAAs.

Sophomore Waen Minpraphal also performed well for the Bears. Minpraphal finished second next to Overton in the 200 IM with a time of 2:00.35, third next to Overton in the 200 fly (1:58.57), and ninth in the consolidation final for the 100 fly (54.47), qualifying for NCAAs in all three events.

Junior Marylyn Chiang also qualified for the NCAAs in three events, taking second in the 100 back (54.09), third in the 200 back (1:57.05), and ninth in the consolidation final of the 200 IM (2:00.71).

Freshman Haley Cope placed third in the 100 back (54.89), qualifying for NCAAs, while sophomore Anya Kolibsen finished fifth in the 200 free (1:47.95), also qualifying for NCAAs.

The California relays also performed well. The 200 free relay (freshman Adrienne Mattos, Cope, Kolbisen, sophomore Nicole Omphroy, 1:32.10) placed third, breaking a school record set in 1991, while the 400 medley relay (Chiang, freshman Hanna Jaltner, Minpraphal, Kolbisen, 3:41.26) placed second, breaking a school record and automatically qualifying for NCAAs.

The 400 free relay (Cope, Kolbisen, Mattos, and Omphroy, 3:20.68) placed third, qualified for NCAAs and broke a school record set in 1987.