Rutqvist Set For NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships

March 19, 2014

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Senior Amanda Rutqvist will represent South Carolina at the 2014 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held this Thursday through Saturday at the Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minn. Rutqvist, who is making her fourth straight appearance, is slated to swim in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events. Preliminaries will begin each day at 12 p.m. ET, with finals taking place each night at 8. Rutqvist, who is looking to add to her three career All-America honors, will swim the 100 breaststroke on Friday and the 200 breaststroke on Saturday. Entering this year’s championships, she has the 27 fastest time in the country in the 200 breaststroke with a mark of 2:10.07. Rutqvist, who is the school record holder in the 200 breaststroke (2:07.86), finished 10th in the event at the SEC Championships in February. She has the 49th fastest time in the field at the NCAA Championships in the 100 breaststroke with a mark of 1:01.68.

MEET INFORMATION
Date/Opponent: Thurs., March 20 – Sat., March 22 at NCAA Championships
Time: 12 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. ET each day
Results: Live Results
Video: Gophersports | ESPN3
Location: Minneapolis, Minn.
Facility: Minnesota Aquatic Center
Meet Notes | @GamecockSwim

NCAA Championships Coverage
All six sessions at the 20014 NCAA Championships will be streamed live. Both Thursday sessions, along with preliminary rounds on Friday and Saturday can be watched on gophersports.com, while Friday and Saturday’s finals will air on ESPN3.

Carolina At The NCAA Championships
The Gamecocks have now sent at least one student-athlete to 13 straight NCAA Championships and 29 overall. Carolina’s best finish was a 10th-place showing at the 1989 national championships. The program has produced six top-25 finishes since joining the SEC in 1992, including an 11th-place finish in 2004. Former Gamecock diver Allison Brennan is the only Carolina individual national champion as she won the one-meter title in 2004.

2013 NCAA Championships Recap
As is the case this year, Amanda Rutqvist’s was South Carolina’s lone representative a season ago where the three-time All-American competed in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke. She finished 29th in the preliminary round in the 200 with a time of 2:11.63, missing out on the top 16 by 1.58 seconds. It took a time of 2:10.05 to make the consolation final and a time of 2:08.24 to advance to the championship final. In the 100, she placed 31st with a NCAA Championships best time at 1:01.01, moving up two spots from her finish at the 2012 championships.

The Bigger The Stage, The Better
Amanda Rutqvist has proven time and time again that her best performances come during the biggest meets of the season. Rutqvist earned All-America honors in both the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke at the 2011 NCAA Championships as a freshman. Earlier that year she became the first Gamecock women’s swimmer to win a SEC title by claiming first in the 200 breaststroke with a then-SEC record of 2:08.56. She won silver in the 200 breaststroke at the 2012 SEC Championships and later earned her third career All-America honor at the NCAA Championships with an 11th-place finish in the 200 breaststroke.

This year, Rutqvist saved her best performance for her last at the SEC Championships she posted a time of 2:10.07 in the B Final of the 200 breaststroke as she placed 10th overall in the event. It was her best time of the season and earned her a spot at this week’s NCAA Championships.

Strength Of The SEC
The SEC has 11 swimmers in the top 30 seeds in the 200 breaststroke at the NCAA Championships, including Amanda Rutqvist at No. 27. SEC Champion and Olympic medalist Breeja Larson (Texas A&M) enters the week as the No. 2 seed with a time of 2:04.92. Georgia’s Melanie Margalis is the third seed, while Georgia’s Annie Zhu (No. 6), Tennessee’s Molly Hannis (No. 7), and Texas A&M’s Ashley McGregor (No. 8) round out the SEC’s representatives which are seeded in the top 10.

Schedule of Events

Thursday Prelims – 12 p.m. ET

– 200 Freestyle Relay
– 500 Freestyle
– 200 Individual Medley
– 50 Freestyle
– 400 Medley Relay
– 1-Meter Diving

Thursday Finals – 8 p.m. ET

– 200 Freestyle Relay
– 500 Freestyle
– 200 Individual Medley
– 50 Freestyle
– 1-Meter Diving
– 400 Medley Relay

Friday Prelims – 12 p.m. ET

– 200 Medley Relay
– 400 Individual Medley
– 100 Butterfly
– 200 Freestyle
– 100 Breaststroke
– 100 Backstroke
– 800 Freestyle Relay
– 3-Meter Diving

Friday Finals – 8 p.m. ET

– 200 Medley Relay
– 400 Individual Medley
– 100 Butterfly
– 200 Freestyle
– 100 Breaststroke
– 100 Backstroke
– 3-Meter Diving
– 800 Freestyle Relay

Saturday Prelims – 12 p.m. ET

– 200 Backstroke
– 100 Freestyle
– 200 Breaststroke
– 200 Butterfly
– 400 Freestyle Relay
– Platform Diving
– 1,650 Freestyle

Saturday Finals – 8 p.m. ET