March 21, 2003

AUBURN, Ala. – Jennifer VanAssen led the University of South Carolina women’s swimming and diving team in the second day of NCAA Championship competition with an eighth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle. She finished with a time of 1:47.61.

After the meet, VanAssen said, “I had a really good swim in the prelims and wanted to come out and do better than I did in the finals, but that just makes me want to come out next year, or even tomorrow, and get that top spot. This was my first time at NCAA’s, let alone in the finals, so I was pretty excited. I just have to use that now for tomorrow.”

Head Coach Don Gibb said about VanAssen’s performance, “We were all really excited to see her swim so well. She has worked really hard and deserves this. We knew that she was capable of making the finals and of doing well when she came down for SEC’s and swam there. She had her sights set on the finals during prelims and I know this will help her further down the road, hopefully as early as tomorrow when she swims the 100 free.”

Also highlighting the day were divers Lauren King and Tracey Richardson. Both finished in the top 15 in the 3-meter springboard. Richardson finished tenth with an overall score of 295.40 and King finished twelfth with a score of 291.65. Yesterday King earned an All-American spot in the one meter springboard with a seventh place finish.

With the performances, South Carolina moves to 21st in the NCAA team competition. Coach Gibb said that the team’s goal at the beginning of the year was to finish in the top 25. Fourteen points seperate South Carolina at number 21 and Indiana at number 25. Saturday is the final day of the competition. South Carolina’s events will include VanAssen in the 100 freestyle. Preliminaries begin at 11:00 a.m.