University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Day One
Three School Records Fall As Swimming Opens At Terrapin Cup
11/15/2007 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Nov. 15, 2007
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Richmond women's swimming team saw three school records fall and achieved three NCAA B-cuts as the team opened competition at the Maryland Terrapin Cup Thursday in College Park, Md. Senior All-American Jessica Witt won the 500 free in a school-record time and was on the record-setting 400 medley relay.
Witt's gold in the 500 free came in a time of 4:50.44, setting a new school record and achieving an NCAA B-cut qualifying time in the process. Witt, who shaved nearly four seconds off her morning preliminary time, broke her own record of 4:50.52 set last season.
"Jess' 500 was an amazing swim," said two-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Matt Barany. "It's rare for any team to break school records in November and we broke three tonight. That's a credit to these women who worked together as a team tonight to get it done."
Later in the night, Witt swam the anchor leg of Spiders' first-place 400 medley relay, which finished first and set a school record in 3:45.74. Alex Helland, Lauren Beaudreau and Katie Sieben also swam the relay that broke three-year old school and conference record of 3:47.29.
Helland led the relay off, eclipsing her first career school record in the 100 back with a time of 56.21. The old mark of 56.42 was held by former Spider Brook Boncher in 2004. Helland also finished 12th in the 50 free in 24.25.
The 200 IM was won by Beaudreau, achieving an NCAA B-cut qualifying time of 2:01.52. The senior sliced a second and a half off her time from Thursday morning's prelims. Junior Cara Smaniotto was 20th in the 200 IM in 2:11.93.
The Spiders saw three reach Thursday night's finals in the 50 free and were led by sophomore Katie Sieben, who achieved her first career NCAA B-cut with a time of 23:09. That time, good for the silver, placed her second on Richmond's all-time list behind Boncher (22.64). Helland was 12th and freshman Natalie Lewis was 21st (24.96).
Freshman Kylie Francis, Sieben, Helland and Lewis swan the 200 free relay in 1:36.50 - just a second shy of last year's winning time at the A-10 Championship.
"We come into this meet every year wanting to have fun," said Barany. "And tonight was the most complete team performance I've seen in my time here at Richmond. The performances in the water were incredible and so was the support on the deck."
Through 11 events, Richmond stands fourth in the nine-team field with 148 points. Connecticut is first (222 points), followed by Maryland (183), William & Mary (176), Richmond and Villanona (139) to round out the top five.
Action continues in the Terrapin Cup with Day Two prelims Friday morning.
