Dec. 19, 2002
After Day 1 At Delta State Meet, Men Swimmers Triple NCAA Qualifier List: Women Set Pool Records
After day 1 of the Delta State Invitation, the Truman women's swimming team was turning in record-breaking performances and adding to its list of national qualifiers. The team of Whitney Jensen, Sara Hatcher, Sue Ellen Thoma and Sarah Dance won the 200-yard freestyle relay in an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:36.97. Thoma was the only new NCAA qualifier in the group. The other three women met the A-cut in the 200 free relay earlier this season with a time of 1:36.53.
Sophomore Diana Betsworth won the 500-yard free relay and set a pool record in the process with a time of 4:58.91. She bettered her previous NCAA automatic qualifying time by nearly four seconds and broke the pool record by a little more than two seconds.
Senior Liz Hug met the A-cut in the 500-yard freestyle as well with a time of 5:01.86 in the prelims, and finished third in the finals with a time of 5:05.23.
Though Sara Hatcher already met the automatic cut in the 50-yard freestyle this year with a time of 23.87, she set a pool record in the final by winning in 24.30 seconds.
After morning prelims on Day 2, Betsworth set a pool record in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:52.60, also bettering her previous A-cut in the process.
For the men, Robby Cooper was second in the 500-yard freestyle (4:38.18) and met the NCAA provisional qualifying time in the prelims (4:38.13) on day 1.
The men qualified three additional individuals for the NCAA Division II championships after taking second in the 400-yard medley relay in 3:23.98. Junior Brian Teson, junior Andy Harken, senior Matt Pray and freshman Josh Otis comprised the team. Pray was the only member of the Truman men's team to make an A-cut this season, prior to the Delta State meet.
The Bulldogs compete in the day 2 finals this evening and finish the meet tomorrow with prelims in the morning, followed by the finals in the evening.