Women’s Swimming & Diving Finishes Fifth At ACC Championships

Feb. 17, 2007

Chapel Hill, NC- The Clemson Women’s Swimming & Diving team concluded their run at the ACC Championships with a fifth place finish Saturday night from Koury Natatorium in Chapel Hill, NC. Cassy LaRussa and Rachel Regone each recorded fifth place finishes for the Lady Tigers as they went on to finish with 357.5 points. North Carolina took the title with 737 points.

Defending champion Florida State (642.5) was second, followed by Virginia (475) and Virginia Tech (393.5). Then came Clemson, just ahead of Maryland (332), Miami (299), Duke (150), Georgia Tech (138), N.C. State (123.5), and Boston College (77).

LaRussa started off the evening by swimming to a fifth place finish in the timed final of the 1650 freestyle. She swam an NCAA Provisional Qualifying time of 16:39.72 in the event. Summer O’Donnell (16:49.86) swam an NCAA “B” cut time in the event to finish eighth, and now sits ninth on Clemson’s all-time list. It was the second “B” cut of the meet for O’Donnell and LaRussa. Michelle Parkhurst (2:00.42) and Ashley Clay (2:04.51) placed seventh and 15th in the 200 backstroke for Clemson in the next event.

Regone kept the momentum going as she took fifth in the 100 freestyle with an NCAA Provisional mark of 50.44. It was the fastest time of the season for the sophomore. In the 200 breaststroke, Katrina Obas (2:17.77) and Alexandra Barsanti (2:19.90) finished eighth and 13th, respectively. Senior Sarah Cefalu went out with a bang in her last swim at the ACC Championships.

Cefalu (2:03.57) swam the 10th best time in Lady Tiger history to place 10th in the event. In the final event of the competition, the 400 freestyle relay, the team of Regone, Lauren Sindall, Parkhurst, and senior Kallie Deters finished fifth place with a time of 3:25.75.

Clemson will be back in action as they travel to the NCAA Championships March 8 in Minneapolis, MN. The Tiger men will begin their ACC Championship push starting next Wednesday February 21.