Women’s Swimming and Diving Season Notes

March 23, 1998

Final Rankings–The Clemson Women’s Swimming and Diving team finished 23rd in the final poll of the Speedo America’s College Swimming Coaches Association Top 25 Coaches Poll released February 13. The Lady Tigers ended the season with a 9-2 record, three of the victories were against ranked teams Auburn, Cincinnati and Miami.

Making Their Mark–Clemson holds eight of the fastest times in the country according to the College Swimming Coaches Association of America’s College Quick 25 final release. Three of these times consist of relays, while the other five are individual top times. Erin Schatz holds a total of three individual times on the list; the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle, as well as being a member of one of the relays.

Lady Tigers Finish 35th at NCAA Championships–The Lady Tigers finished 35th in the Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships held this March 19-21 in Minneapolis, MN.

Making her second trip to the NCAA, Erin Schatz posted a 4:49.93 in the 500 freestyle, finishing 23rd. Schatz also placed 16th in the 1650 freestyle with a personal best time of 16:33.05, moving her into third place on Clemson’s All-Time Top 10 list.

ACC Champion Jennifer Mihalik finished 14th in the 200 backstroke preliminaries with a time of 1:59.34 and 15th in the final with a 2:00.24. Mihalik also finished in the 50 freestyle with a personal best time of 23.32, landing her 36th in the preliminaries. She swam in the 100 backstroke (56.30) placing 29th in the preliminaries.

One Tiger Stands Alone–Razvan Petcu will be representing the Clemson Men’s Swimming and Diving team this coming weekend, March 26-28 in Auburn, AL at the Men’s NCAA Championships. Petcu, who holds the best times in Clemson history in the 50 freestyle (20.11), 100 freestyle (43.82) and 100 butterfly (47.99) will be competing in all three events. He is the reigning100 freestyleACC Champion. The freshman from Ploiesti, Romania is the only Tiger from the men’s squad to be ranked among the College Swimming Coaches Association of America’s College Quick 25 poll this season. He is also currently ranked in the final poll as #14th in the 100 freestyle.

Divers Compete for Spot at NCAA Championships–The Lady Tigers sent three divers, sophomore Aly Susterka, freshmen Besty Potter and Jillian OrRico, to the Zone B Diving Competitions in Athens, GA in order to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

Susterka made her first appearance in the NCAA Zone B Competition Division by competing in two events, the one-meter and three-meter. She finished 36th out of 43 in the one-meter with a score of 304.15 points and 34th out of 40 on the three-meter board with 367.00 points.

Potter finished 34th in the one-meter diving competition with 310.10 points. She dove to 24th place on the three-meter board with 402.40 points.

OrRico ended the season with 320.35 points to claim the 38th spot in the three-meter diving competition.

Clemson Honorees, 1998ACC Champions--200 backstroke (1:58.77): Jennifer Mihalik.   100 freestyle (43.82): Razvan PetcuAll-ACC Swimmers--200 freestyle  (1:49.04): Wendy Henson.   100 butterfly (48.20): Razvan Petcu.200 freestyle  relay (1:32.70) & 400 freestyle relay (3:22.45): Wendy Henson, Jennifer Mihalik, Charli Reasons and Kathy Lowry.