University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Big East Championships Preview: Women's Butterfly
2/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Big East Championships Preview: Women's Butterfly
2/18/2003
PITTSBURGH ? With the Big East Swimming and Diving Championships two days away, the preview continues with a look at the women flyers. The 100 and 200 butterfly races should be close, with two Panthers gunning for All-Big East honors.
Women's Butterfly
It has been 11 years since Pittsburgh had a women's champion in the 100 or 200 butterfly when Julie Rocks won both events in the 1991 Big East meet. The long drought could come to an end this weekend with junior Kelli Tielking (Damascus, Md./Damascus) and sophomore Jen Koch (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mother of Mercy) taking school-record times into the conference championships.
Tielking broke the school record in the 100 fly earlier this year at the 2002 Pittsburgh Invitational with a time of 55.06 seconds, which is also an NCAA B-cut time. Only one Big East swimmer went faster in the 100 fly this season and that was Rutgers' Michelle De Freese. De Freese's time of 54.37 seconds against Seton Hall and St. John's on Jan. 18 should give her the upper hand on gaining her second straight Big East title in the event, after touching in a meet-record 53.86 seconds last year.
Also qualifying with an NCAA B-cut time was Virginia Tech's Jen McLaughlin, with a time of 55.67 seconds at the Nike Cup in November.
Along with Tielking, six other Panthers qualified for the Big East meet with 'A' standard times. Koch is ranked 13th in the conference with a time of 57.08 seconds. The other five qualifiers are Amy Miteff (Wellington, Fla./Wellington), Carolyne Savini (Egg Harbour Twp., N.J./Holy Spirit), Nicole Ebert (Spring, Texas/Klein), Mary Ann McCauley (Franklin, Pa./Franklin), and Kelli Krallman (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline Academy).
McLaughlin won last year's 200 fly for the Hokies but is ranked fifth this year behind Notre Dame's Lisa Garcia, who swam a 2:01.03 on Feb. 1 for the conference's top time. Syracuse's Elyse McDonough is second and Rutgers' Kelly Harrigan is third, just ahead of Koch, who comes in fourth with a school-record time of 2:02.76 at the Pittsburgh Invitational as her qualifying time. Just two spots behind Koch is Ebert, a freshman, with a time of 2:03.22. Also qualifying for the 200 fly for the Panthers were Miteff, Tielking, Krallman, Savini, and Emily Colley (Pace, Fla./Pace).
Tomorrow's Preview: IM and Relays
