University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols Earn NCAA Marks at Bulldog Invite
March 01, 2008 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Complete Results
ATHENS, Ga. ??? Sophomore Jamie Saffer swam the first NCAA automatic qualifying cut of her career at the Bulldog Invitational in Athens, Ga., today. Her time in the 100y breast, 1:01.81, makes her the third-fastest performer in Lady Vol history and earned her entry to her first NCAA Championship meet. She is one of eight Lady Vols who competed at the Gabrielsen Natatorium today.
???What a great day,??? assistant swimming coach Jen Arndt said. ???We struggled a little this morning to find our way, but Tricia Weaner really lit it up in the 400y IM with a best time by four seconds. After her swim, the team responded with more best times. To top off our night, Jamie Saffer got her ???A??? cut in the 100y breast. Everyone did something exceptional tonight. We have learned this season to be tough and that showed tonight.???
Tricia Weaner also had a good night as she picked up NCAA provisional cuts in the 500y free (4:57.63), 400y IM (4:23.14) and 200y free (1:50.06). Her times in the 400y IM and 200y free were career bests for the freshman. She took .59 seconds off her time in the preliminaries to get a ???B??? cut in the 200y free.
Junior Maria Jugan swam personal-best times in the 200y IM and 100y back. She touched the wall in 59.90 in the prelims and 59.99 in the finals of the 100y back event, which are the two best times of her career. Her 200y IM time of 2:12.61 in the 200y IM prelims was also a personal best. She finished fourth in the finals in 2:12.61.
???Maria broke a minute in the 100y back,??? Arndt said. ???That is a huge milestone for her.???
Freshman Morgan Farrell competed in the 200y IM, 50y free and 200y free. She came in at 2:06.96 in the prelims of the 200y IM, and 23.80 in the finals of the 50y free. Her time of 1:50.50 in the 200y free is a career best and just two-tenths of a second from an NCAA ???B??? cut.
Brittany Nauta entered into the meet with hopes of improving her personal-best times. She swam the 50y freestyle three times today, with her best finish coming in the time trials. The junior recorded a 23.47 clocking in the time trials, a 23.50 in the prelims and a third-place 23.58 in the finals.
Ashley Quinn finished just behind Nauta in the 50y free with a fourth-place 23.77. The junior improved upon her 23.81 time in the prelims further improved by stopping the clock in 23.56 in the time trials.
Sophomore Alex Barsanti recorded a time 24.91 in the prelims of the 50y free and 25.53 in the finals. She also competed in the 100y breast, registering times of 1:05.71 and 1:10.17 in the prelims and finals, respectively. She was the only Lady Vol to swim in the 200y free time trials and came out with a 1:58.31 time.
Sophomore Bryttany Curran came in seventh in the 100y breast event. She improved upon her 1:05.98 time in the prelims with a 1:05.85 readout in the finals. She later earned an NCAA ???B??? cut in the 200y breast by swimming a career-best 2:15.55 in the time trials.
The meet will continue tomorrow with preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m. and finals starting at 5 p.m.
