University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Big East Championships Preview: Women's Backstroke
2/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Big East Championships Preview: Women's Backstroke
2/14/2003
PITTSBURGH ? The women's swimming and diving team continued its preparation for the 21st annual Big East Swimming and Diving Championships next weekend and are hoping to improve upon its fifth-place finish of a year ago.
Backstroke
Notre Dame swept the top three spots in last year's 100-yard backstroke final and two of those swimmers return this season in Kristen Peterson and Danielle Hulick. Hulick is currently ranked second in the conference in the 100 back with a time of 56.33 seconds, and joins top-ranked Kelly Harrigan of Rutgers (55.90) and Pittsburgh's Carolyne Savini (Egg Harbour Twp., N.J./Holy Spirit) (56.73) as the three conference swimmers that have achieved NCAA B-cuts so far.
Savini was the Panthers' top finisher in last year's 100 back, touching the wall seventh with a time of 57.56 seconds. Freshmen Kelly Redcay (Reading, Pa./Wilson) and Kelli Krallman (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline Academy) joined Savini as Big East A-time qualifiers for Friday's race. Both Redcay and Krallman achieved their times as lead legs of medley relay teams.
Saturday's 200 backstroke final will again feature the Scarlet Knights' Harrigan, who is the only Big East swimmer to touch in under two minutes. Her time of 1:58.72 on Feb. 1 qualifies her for the NCAA meet. Her closest competitors will be Savini, Kelly Furlong and Katy Peterson of Virginia Tech, and Marie Labosky of Notre Dame.
Savini just missed earning All-Big East honors last season with a fourth-place finish in the 200 back behind three Fighting Irish swimmers. The only other Panther with an A-time in the 200 back was Krallman, who is ranked 18th in the conference with a time of 2:06.38 at the 2002 Pittsburgh Invitational.
Tomorrow's Preview: Breaststroke
