Feb. 17, 2006

Results

Sasha Malanina became the first Terrapin swimmer to record an NCAA A-cut time this season as she won gold in the 400 IM finals. The junior from Volgograd, Russia swam a 4:14.77 to hold off Katie Gordon of Virginia (4:14.85) for the event title. The A-cut standard is 4:15.63.

Senior Krisztina Kovacs (Budapest, Hungary) should be joining Malanina in Athens, Georgia for the NCAA championships. In earning a silver medal in the 100 breast, Kovacs set a personal record with a 1:01.78. That missed the A-cut standard by a mere .08 seconds, and should be good for an invitation to the NCAAs.

In the 100 back, junior Natalie Ferdinand (St. Thomas, Barbados) finished sixth (57.04), while senior Barbara Sumrall (Chattanooga, Tenn.) took eighth (57.79). Sumrall also swam the championship finals in the 100 fly, where she finished seventh (55.89). She was right on the heels of teammate Gigi deToll (junior, Culpeper, Va.), who finished in 55.46. DeToll set a season mark with the swim.

The Terps finished fourth in the 400 medley relay, completing the race in 3:45.21. The team consisted of senior Inbal Levavi (Kibutz Givat Haim, Israel), Kovacs, deToll, and freshman Yelena Skalinskaya (Almaty, Kazakhstan).

Several other Terps swam in tonight's events. Levavi finished eleventh in the 400 IM and third in the consolation final, as she swam to a time of 4:24.17. The time is a season-best. Sophomore Maya Finkler placed 13th in the 200 free, posting a time of 1:50.90.

Junior Kaleena Laputka (Shamong, N.J.) won her heat of the 100 back to finish 17th overall. She swam to a time of 58.43. Sophomore Emily Smoak (Salisbury, Md.) also was a heat winner as her 1:05.88 put her 17th overall in the 100 breast. The time set a new career record.

Sophomore Katarina Csomova (Komarno, Slovakia) finished 21st overall in the 100 breast with a time of 1:06.89. The mark was just .02 seconds off her career record, which she set in this morning's prelims.

At the conclusion of competition, the Terps sat in fifth place with 284 points. They are just a point behind Virginia Tech for fourth and 68 behind North Carolina for third. Florida State leads the championship with 415.5 points.

Competition continues tomorrow as the women's ACC Championships wrap up from the Natatorium of the Campus Recreation Center in College Park. Events begin at 11am.