Feb. 18, 2005

Results

ATLANTA - Senior Megan Knepper (Williamsport, Md.) broke her own school record in the 100-yard backstroke at Friday's ACC Championships preliminaries. In all, nine Terp swimmers finished among the top eight at prelims and will compete for titles at tonight's finals.

Despite her record-breaking performance, Knepper is the No. 2 seed at the finals. Her time of NCAA `B' standard time of 54.54 was only second-best this morning to Virginia's Brielle White, the defending champion in the event.

Senior Elizabeth Lavell (Annapolis, Md.) is the top seed in the 400-yard individual medley after blowing away the competition by nearly 2.5 seconds with her Georgia Tech Aquatic Center record time of 4:16.56, an NCAA `B' cut. She will be joined in the finals by sophomore Sasha Malanina (Volgograd, Russia) and junior Inbal Levavi (Kibbutz Givat Haim, Israel), who clocked times of 4:23.58 (`B' standard) and 4:24.79, respectively, and are the sixth and eighth seeds.

Three Terrapins will also compete in the 100-yard butterfly finals. After taking the 200-IM crown yesterday, senior Marina Mulyayeva (Almaty, Kazakhstan) looks to add a second individual ACC championship to her resume, as she is seeded second (54.72; `B' cut) in the 100-fly. She will be challenged by sophomore Gigi deToll (Culpeper, Va.), who will try to defend her title. Last year, deToll, who tied for third at this morning's prelims with a `B' cut time of 54.86, became the first Maryland freshman to win an ACC crown under head coach Jim Wenhold. Junior Barbara Sumrall (Chattanooga, Tenn.) is seeded eighth tonight (55.89).

The Terps placed two swimmers in the 200-yard freestyle finals. Senior Chrissy Miller (Seaside Park, N.J.), the runner-up in yesterday's 500-free, is the fifth seed after clocking a `B' standard time of 1:49.51, her personal best. She will be joined by freshman Maya Finkler (Rishon-le-zion, Israel), who also achieved a `B' cut (1:50.42) and is the eighth seed.

Junior Krisztina Kovacs (Budapest, Hungary) narrowly missed the finals in the 100-yard breaststroke with her time of 1:04.10, finishing .01 seconds behind Virginia's Elaine Bennett. Kovacs will be joined in the consolation round by Mulyayeva (1:04.15). Freshman Atalie Abranovic (Kittanning, Pa.) will compete in the bonus consols.

Other Terps swimming in tonight's consolations include freshmen Stacie Lesneski (Gardner, Mass.) and Kirsten Jones (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) in the 400-IM and senior Cynthia Weir (Irwin, Pa.) in the 100-fly. Other Maryland bonus consols participants include sophomore Amber Walter (Kalispell, Mont.) in the 100-fly, freshman Meghan Sackett (Cockeysville, Md.) in the 200-free and senior Caitlin Gannon (Evans City, Pa.) in the 100-back.

The 12th-ranked Terps are currently in first place with 238 points. They won ACC titles in 200-IM, the 200-free relay, the 800-free relay, the 200-medley relay, 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 400-medley relay, as well as the finals for the 400-IM, 100-fly, 200-free, 100-breast, 100-back and three-meter diving. Follow the meet with Livestats.

Standings After Day 2
1.  Maryland          238
2.  Virginia          217
3.  North Carolina    156
4.  Florida State     140
5.  Virginia Tech     125.50
6   Clemson           110
7.  Georgia Tech      100.50
8.  Miami              90
8.  N.C. State         90
10. Duke               89