Feb. 20, 2003

Aubrun, Ala. – Day two preliminaries were held today at the Southeastern Conference Championships at Auburn University. Preliminary heats were held in the men’s and women’s 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley and 50 freestyle events. The women’s 1-meter springboard prelims were also held.

On the women’s side, four swimmers qualified for the final two heats. In the 500 freestyle, freshman Stephanie Margalis (4:54.34) qualified in the 12th spot and junior Bronwyn Dedekind qualified right behind her in 13th. Dedekind also bested her personal record. She swam the event in 4:54.36. Her previous best was 4:59.46. Qualifying in the 50 freestyle were junior Jennifer VanAssen (23.18) and junior Ashleigh Bastak (23.39). In the 1-meter diving preliminaries, South Carolina qualified two divers for tonight’s finals. Allison Brennan ended the competition number seven and Lauren King ended third overall. They will both advance to tonight’s finals.

On the men’s side, the sole qualifier was Chris McCrary (20.10), who finished eighth in the 50 freestyle and will have a chance at the SEC title in the finals tonight.