March 10, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - California won the 400-yard freestyle relay in record time to cap off a third-place finish, its best finish ever, at the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the Minnesota Aquatics Center. The Golden Bears quartet of junior Emily Silver, senior Erin Reilly, sophomore Jessica Hardy and sophomore Dana Vollmer swam a 3:12.13 to set a new American record, U.S. Open record, NCAA record, NCAA meet record, school record and pool record in the 400-free relay. Cal, which had never finished higher than fourth at the NCAA Championships before this year, collected a school-record 372.5 points.
Auburn defended its team title with 535 points, Arizona was second with 477 and Stanford was fourth (333).
"Those four had a lot of swimming the last three days," Cal head coach Teri McKeever said of her relay swimmers. " We're just very happy for them and proud of the whole team, all 15 swimmers here and the seven that weren't and the divers. It was a very good year.
"I honestly feel like we all came together I'm just really proud. It's a really great group of women. Just on a personal note it's one of the best coaching jobs we've ever done, and I don't mean that personally. I'm proud of that for a lot of different reasons, including utilizing our support staff, strength coach, trainers and other people who are committed to doing something no Cal team has ever done. It was just an exciting three days."
Cal finished the NCAA Championships with five titles, including wins in the 100 breaststroke (Hardy), 100 butterfly (Vollmer), 400-medley relay and 800-free relay. Vollmer, who collected a Cal-high four national titles, and Silver were on all three winning relays.
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In tonight's finals, Cal junior Emily Silver took third in the 100 freestyle in a time of 47.45, while Hardy tied her 14th-place prelim finish and time of 49.12. Georgia's Kara Lynn Joyce, who was named the Swimmer of the Meet, won the 100 free in a pool-record 47.24.
Vollmer took third in the 200 fly in a time of 1:54.30. Cal had three Bears in the final, with Reilly taking fourth in 1:54.98 and junior Rachel Ridgeway taking eighth in 1:57.97. Stanford's Elaine Breeden set a meet- and pool-record of 1:53.02 to win the title.
Freshman Blake Hayter had Cal's best finish in the 1650 free, placing 11th in 16:15.43, and freshman teammate Lauren Boyle was 19th in 16:24.11. Auburn's Hayley Peirsol won the 1650 in a pool-record 15:45.92.
Cal freshman Alexandra Ellis swam a 2:21.89 t o take 13th in the 200 breaststroke, which was won by USC's Rebecca Soni in a pool-record 2:08.23.
NCAA Championships
Final Top 10 Team Standings
School Points 1. Auburn 535 2. Arizona 477 3. California 372.5 4. Stanford 333 5. Georgia 290 6. Texas 220 7. Florida 203 8. Texas A&M 198 9. Michigan 191 10. Tennessee 127
California Results - Saturday Finals
1650-Yard Freestyle
11. Blake Hayter 16:15.43. 19. Lauren Boyle 16:24.11
100-Yard Freestyle
3. Emily Silver 47.45. 14. Jessica Hardy 49.12.
200-Yard Breaststroke
13. Alexandra Ellis 2:12.89.
200-Yard Butterfly
3. Dana Vollmer 1:54.30. 4. Erin Reilly 1:54.98. 8. Rachel Ridgeway 1:57.97.
400-Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Cal (Emily Silver, Erin Reilly, Jessica Hardy, Dana Vollmer) 3:12.13*^%nmp.
California Results - Saturday Prelims
200-Yard Backstroke
30. Sherry Tsai 1:58.67.34. Lauren Rogers 1:59.31. 35. Lauren Andrews 1:59.43.39. Heather White 2:00.11.
100-Yard Freestyle
3. Emily Silver 47.94. 14. Jessica Hardy 49.12.
200-Yard Breaststroke
11. Alexandra Ellis 2:12.68. 30. Annie Babicz 2:17.09.
200-Yard Butterfly
2. Dana Vollmer 1:55.19. 4. Erin Reilly 1:55.83. 8. Rachel Ridgeway 1:56.44. 42. Courtney Eronemo 2:02.83.
400-Yard Freestyle Relay
2. Cal (Emily Silver, Erin Reilly, Jessica Hardy, Dana Vollmer) 3:14.95.
* Cal school record
^ American record
% U.S. Open record
n NCAA record
m NCAA meet record
p Minnesota Aquatics Center pool record
