COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Florida women’s swimming team captured its 100th national event title and set two school records while finishing seventh overall Saturday in the 2009 NCAA Championships at Texas A&M’s Student Rec Center Natatorium.
California won the team title with 411.5 points. Next came Georgia (400.5), Arizona (389), Stanford (312.5), Texas (307) and Auburn (281.5). No. 5 Florida totaled 239.5 points.
On the final day of the three-day competition, junior Gemma Spofforth of England led a 1-2-3 Florida finish in the 200-yard backstroke. Spofforth was timed in 1:49.11, a new meet record. Teresa Crippen was second at 1:51.59, a personal best, and junior Stephanie Proud of England was third in 1:51.81, also a personal best.
“We battled every day and every race this entire meet; we just started a little slow the first day,” Florida head coach Gregg Troy said. “We’ll go back and evaluate what we can do in the future to start off better. Gemma Spofforth has been outstanding, not only in the pool, but as a leader of this team. Stephanie Proud has been a great leader for us, too. Our divers really performed well throughout the meet. We have a promising future because we probably had the most freshmen at this meet and the good news for us is they’re all returning.”
In all 13 Gators gained 34 All-America honors. UF’s seventh-place team finish marks the ninth straight year the Gators have finished in the Top 10 nationally.
The national title was Spofforth’s fifth individual national championship, her third in the 200 back, and Florida’s 100th national title all-time. Spofforth is one of four women in NCAA history, joining Sue Walsh (North Carolina, 1982-84), Betsy Mitchell (Texas, 1986-88) and Natalie Coughlin (California, 2001-03), to win the 200-yard backstroke three consecutive years.
After also winning the 100-yard back Friday evening, Spofforth became the second Gator, joining former Florida swimmer Kristen Linehan, to win both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke races in back-to-back seasons.
Freshman Jemma Lowe of England finished fourth in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:53.60. In distance freestyle action, senior Laurabeth Guenthner finished eighth in the mile with a time of 16:00.44.
Sophomore Monica Dodson finished 16th in the platform diving with 214.05. In the championship final Saturday evening, Kara Salamone scored 271.95, good for seventh overall.