Senior Sarah Bateman (Orlando, Fla.) continued her stellar performance at
the 2012 NCAA Championships when she steadily accelerated as the night went on.
Earlier this morning, the Orlando native cracked her own school-leading record
when she led the 200 freestyle relay with a 21.95, 50-split. She continued to
gain speed as the night wound down…not once, but twice.
First, in tonight’s finals when she swam the fastest opening
split of the 200 freestyle relay’s consolation heat and put the Gators ahead
with the first 50-yards under her belt, shaving five-hundredths of a second off
her freshly-set record just hours earlier and clocking in at 21.90.
The second was clocked during tonight’s consolation-winning
swim in the 50 free when she touched the wall in 21.89. The final 50 free of
her career in the Orange and Blue, solidified her place in the Florida record
books
“It was great to finally go under 22 – I had been
stuck there for a while, so get under that marker felt really great,” explained
Bateman on her record-breaking performances. “It hasn’t really set in that I
swam my last 50 as a Gator yet, but as of now I’m looking forward to the rest of
the meet.”
The feat marked only the third time in Florida history that
a Gator swimmer has clocked in under 22 flat, with each of those time recorded
by Bateman in each of her swims today.
On the first night of competition at the 2012 Division I
Swimming and Diving Championships the Gators had three appearances in the
consolation finals with both the 200 freestyle and 400 medley relays making
appearances in the water, as well as an individual swim by Bateman in the 50
free.
“We’re a little disappointed with some of the swims that we
had today – there were some highs and lows – you have those at
pretty much every meet, however,” remarked head coach Gregg Troy. “On the flip side there
were also some very strong performances from our swimmers. Our relays swam the
best that they have all year.”
“Teresa Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa.), had some terrific relay swims
in events she normally doesn’t compete in, and Sarah was just stellar in all
her 50-free swims, breaking her own school-record each time,” added Troy on
tonight’s performances.
The women’s 200 freestyle relay stopped the clock at 1:29.09
in the consolation finals to finish 12th overall on the first night
of championship swimming here in Auburn. Bateman who kick-started the race was followed
by teammates, junior Jamie Bohunicky (Gainesville, Fla.), sophomore Kaitlin Frehling (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
and senior Crippen, who all combined to record the sixth-lowest time in school
history and put points on the board for the Gators.
Beisel led the 400 medley relay with a personal-best,
opening 100 back split after she touched the wall in 52.41. The sophomore was
followed by fellow underclassmen Hilda Luthersdottir (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland)
swimming the breaststroke, Crippen swimming the fly leg of the race and Bateman
anchoring with the 100-free split.
Together, the quartet combined to stop the clock at 3:32.93,
for eleventh overall in the field.
For complete results from day one of the NCAA Division I Swimming
and Diving Championships, please click here.
After the first full day of competition, the top-10 teams
are as follows, from first through 10th: Cal Berkeley (132),
Stanford and USC tied for second with 118 points, Arizona (107), Auburn (94),
Georgia (91), Texas A&M (89), Texas (74), Tennessee (73) and Missouri (44).
Florida settles in at 13th with 31 points after the first night.
