Kovacs is Top Seed in 100 Breast
2/18/2006 7:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 18, 2006
College Park, Md. - Krisztina Kovacs (senior, Budapest, Hungary) swam a 2:14.43 heat in the 200 breast prelims to earn the #1 seed in tonight's ACC Championship finals. The silver medalist in the 100 breast swam the event six times in the regular season, earning a victory each time.
Kovacs will be joined in the 200 breast finals by junior Sasha Malanina (Volgograd, Russia). Malanina, who has already earned a bronze (200 IM) and a gold medal (400 IM) in this year's ACC Championships, will be the fifth seed thanks to a time of 2:16.74. The time, which is good for an NCAA B-cut standard, is a personal best. Her previous best was 2:20.02, set in the final meet of the regular season against UVa.
Meanwhile, two Terps will be swimming in the championship final of the 100 free. Freshman Yelena Skalinskaya (Almaty, Kazakhstan) and sophomore Maya Finkler (Rishon-le-zion, Israel) will be the fourth and fifth seeds, respectively. Skalinskaya set a career-best with a time of 50.94, the best time posted by a Terp in the event this year. Finkler's 50.96 is also a career best. Both times met NCAA B-cut standards.
Several other Terps will be swimming in tonight's consolation finals. Senior Inbal Levavi (Kibutz Givat Haim, Israel) finished 11th overall in the 200 back and will be the third seed in the consolation finals. She swam to a 2:02.07 time, a season best. Sophomore Kirsten Jones (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) finished 19th in the 200 back prelims with a time of 2:05.55. The mark is a personal best.
Junior Kaleena Laputka (Shamong, N.J.) and freshman Martha Whistler (Orchard Park, N.Y.) will swim the 100 free consolation final tonight. Laputka took 17th overall with a time of 52.01, a personal best. Whistler was 21st with a time of 52.40.
Sophomore Katarina Csomova (Komarno, Slovakia) took 16th overall in the 200 breast with a time of 2:21.73. The time is a personal best, eclipsing her previous top time by more than 3 seconds.
Competition resumes this evening at 4 p.m. with the swimming of the 1650 free prelims. Finals on this, the last day of competition in the ACC Championships, will begin at 7 p.m. from the Natatorium of the Campus Recreation Center at College Park.
