Six Virginia women swimmers combined their efforts to lead the Cavaliers to a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships last weekend at the Nassua County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, N.Y.
Freshmen Amy Baly and Carlie Dykehouse, sophomores Cara Lane and Mirjana Bosevska, junior Megan Roesch and senior Megan Iffland all qualified to represent the Cavaliers at the NCAAs and took home 10 top 16 event awards and 92 points.
Lane put in the most spectacular and prosperous performances for the Cavaliers. She successfully defended her 2000 NCAA title on Saturday night in the 1,650 freestyle, winning the event in 15 minutes, 53.86 seconds - nearly 10 seconds ahead of Stanford's Jessica Foschi, who touched second.
"It felt pretty good to prove to myself that last year wasn't just a first year thing," Lane said.
Lane added her first place honor to a third place finish in the 500 free Thursday night and an eighth place finish in the 200 butterfly, also on Saturday. All three swims earned Lane first team All-American honors.
Bosevska, a two-time Olympian from Macedonia, also added her share to Virginia's winnings and turned up with successful performances on each day of the meet. Bosevska took 10th in the 500 free Thursday, and Friday she grabbed sixth in the 400 individual medley, finishing in 4:11.52 to set a new Virginia record. Saturday she finished 16th in the 1,650 free with a time of 16:26.15.
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Baly also placed in the 400 IM and the 1,650 free, taking 10th and 13th places, respectively.
"It was really exciting to be there," Baly said. "It gave me a feel for how the [NCAA] meet goes and I'm looking forward to improving."
In the last performance of her college career, Megan Iffland placed 16th in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:00.85, a finish that earned her honorable mention All-American accolades.
The last of the Cavaliers' triumphs was a team effort. Lane, Bosevska, Dykehouse and Roesch together took 11th place in the 800 free relay Friday.
Georgia earned the first place team title with 389 points, and Stanford finished second, just 1.5 points behind the Bulldogs with 387.5. Texas finished third, Auburn fourth and Arizona fifth.
Although Virginia ended in ninth place at the 2000 NCAAs (its highest finish ever), the 12th place finish this year was nothing to be disappointed about. Lane said the team exceeded its expectations and Baly agreed that "the meet gave us a lot of hope to grow."
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