Feb. 17, 2005

Results

ATLANTA - Six Terp swimmers finished among the top eight at Thursday's preliminaries at the ACC Championships and will compete for titles at tonight's finals. Maryland advances at least one swimmer in each of the day's three individual swimming events.

Seniors Chrissy Miller (Seaside Park, N.J.) and Elizabeth Lavell (Annapolis, Md.) are the top two seeds in the 500-yard freestyle. They finished first and second in the preliminaries with respective times of 4:47.47 and 4:47.54. Both times are NCAA `B' cuts. Miller set a new Georgia Tech Aquatic Center record and clocked her personal best and the Terps' top time of the season.

Senior Marina Mulyayeva (Almaty, Kazakhstan) swam a `B' cut of 2:02.07 in the 200-yard individual medley, good for the second seed tonight. She touched in .02 seconds behind top seed Anna Steenrod from Virginia.

The Terps placed three swimmers in the 50-free finals. Freshman Amber Walter (Kalispell, Mont.) had Maryland's fastest time of the morning (23.26) and is the third seed, while seniors Cynthia Weir (Irwin, Pa.) and Megan Knepper (Williamsport, Md.) clocked in at 23.33 and 23.34, respectively, and are seeded fifth and sixth. All three times are `B' cuts.

Sophomore Sasha Malanina (Volgograd, Russia) will swim in the consolation round of the 500-free, while freshmen Maya Finkler (Rishon-le-zion, Israel) and Meghan Sackett (Cockeysville, Md.) will compete in the bonus consols in the event. Junior Inbal Levavi (Kibbutz Givat Haim, Israel) will swim in the consolations of the 200-IM, and junior Barbara Sumrall (Chattanooga, Tenn.) will compete in the bonus consuls in the 50-free.

The 12th-ranked Terps are currently in first place with 80 points. They won ACC titles in the 800-free relay and the 200-medley relay last night, breaking a number of records. The finals begin tonight at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta. The session will include the 200-free relay, as well as the finals for the 500-free, 200-IM, 50-free and one-meter diving.

Standings After Day 1
1.  Maryland             80
2.  Virginia             68
3.  North Carolina       64
4.  Clemson              52
5.  Duke                 48
6.  Miami                46
7.  N.C. State           40
8.  Florida State        30
9.  Georgia Tech         28
10. Virginia Tech        26