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North Carolina Takes Early Lead At ACC Women's Championships

Feb 16, 2001

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - North Carolina has taken an early lead after one day of competition at the 2001 Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championship, held at the University of Virginia Aquatic and Fitness Center. The defending ACC Champion Tar Heels lead all teams with 247 points, followed by host school Virginia in second place with 210 points. Maryland is in third place after the first day of competition with 153 points, while Florida State is in fourth place with 139 points. Clemson is in fifth place (137 points), followed by North Carolina State in sixth (100 points). Duke rounds out the field in seventh place with 38 points.

Maryland swimmers Katy Novotny, Suzy Catterson, Petra Adamkova and Kelly Bowman captured the night's first event, the 200-yard freestyle relay, with an ACC-record time of 1:31.34. The Terps broke UVa's ACC record (131.50) and ACC meet record (131.58). The time also eclipsed the old Virginia pool record of 1:32.04 by more than a half-second. North Carolina finished second in 1:31.74, and Virginia was third with a time of 132.11.

UVa sophomore Cara Lane turned in an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 4:43.55 in the meet's first individual event, the 500-yard freestyle. Lane holds the ACC meet record of 4:43.21, set at last year's ACC Championship. Cavalier Amy Baly finished second in 4:46.84, while the Tar Heels' Jessi Perruquet was third with a time of 4:48.05.

North Carolina senior Erika Acuff set a new ACC record and pool record as she won the 200-yard individual medley in an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:59.88. Acuff broke her own records of 2:00.36 (ACC) and 2:01.55 (UVa pool). UVa's Mirjana Bosevska finished second in 2:00.71, followed by UNC's Katie Hathaway in third place in 2:00.92.

In the 50-yard freestyle, North Carolina's Christy Watkins edged out Maryland's Suzy Catterson to earn her second straight ACC Championship in the 50 free. Watkins set a UVa pool record of 22.74 seconds, which is also an NCAA automatic qualifying time. Catterson's time of 22.90 was good for second, followed by FSU's Christy Cech in third place in a time of 22.94.

Florida State divers swept the top three places in the one-meter diving competition. Chelsie Lerew finished first with a total score of 274.50 and Caren Hirai finished second with 258.70 points. The Seminoles' Michelle Sekeres was third with 256.90 points.

In the night's final event, North Carolina edged out Clemson in the 400-yard medley relay. Tar Heel swimmers Christy Watkins, Katie Hathaway, Summer Mack and Jessi Perruquet won in a time of 3:43.39. The Tigers claimed second place in 3:44.13, and Maryland finished third in 3:45.49.