The women's swimming and diving team returned from College Park, Md. with nine new school records and a seventh-place finish in the ACC Championship meet. North Carolina claimed its third straight conference title, amassing an incredible score of 686.5 to top second-place Virginia by more than 50 points.
"We had an absolutely incredible ACCs," assistant coach Whitney Greene said. "Two-hundred forty-seven is by far the highest point total we've ever had. We also placed swimmers in the top eight in six different events, which is very impressive."
The Blue Devils were once again led by standout Lauren Cornet, who set four new individual school records. On her way, the sophomore also earned NCAA Championship B-cuts in three events, potentially giving her a spot at college swimming's top meet for the second time in her two years at Duke. A-cuts give automatic bids to the meet, and remaining open slots are filled by B-cuts as available.
"I'm really hoping that I actually do get an invitation," Cornet said. "Last year, I had some goggle trouble on my 100 breaststroke and didn't do as well as I wanted to. So this year my goal is to exceed how I placed last year and maybe get a personal best time."
Cornet made her first cut in the 200-yard individual medley Thursday, placing fourth with a time of 2:02.66. Her second came the following day in the 100-yard breaststroke, which she finished in 1:02.68 to place fifth. Cornet's final record and cut of the meet came Saturday evening, when she swam a 2:15.08 in the 200-yard breaststroke to place third. Of her three individual events, Cornet was most pleased with the 200-breaststroke for which her third-place finish will earn her All-ACC honors.
"I was really happy with the 200 breaststroke, because I got a medal and flowers and got to go up to the podium to receive them" she said. "Only the top three finishers get to do that. I was completely elated and honored to be up there, especially with my parents watching."
Cornet set her fourth individual record in the 200-yard freestyle by leading off the 800-yard freestyle relay. Her split of 1:51.94 shattered another of Nancy Hogshead's 20-year-old records, one that she had been chasing since she nearly broke it in October of 2000. She was joined on the relay by Amy Halligan, Lauren Hancock and Chrissy Anderson, who together set yet another record as a team with their time of 7:36.62, placing seventh.
Finally, the sophomore joined up with Hancock, Halligan and Katie Fay on the 200- and 400-yard medley relays to set two more records. The team's time of 1:45.31 placed seventh in the 200, and its 3:48.85 earned a fifth place finish in the 400.
Hancock also performed well over the weekend, making it to finals in the 200-yard individual medley with her preliminary time of 2:04.95 and finishing eighth with a 2:05.67. The following night she made her way into the consolation finals of the 100-yard butterfly, touching in 56.84 seconds to finish 13th. Her most impressive swim came on the last night of competition however, in the 200-yard butterfly. Hancock placed fifth in the event and re-affirmed her NCAA B-cut from earlier this year with a time of 2:01.44.
Fay was Duke's only other swimmer to make top eight finals in an individual event. She did so in good fashion, breaking her school record in the 100-yard backstroke in Friday's preliminaries with a 56.87 and finishing sixth in finals with her time of 56.93. She also narrowly missed an NCAA B-cut in the 200-yard backstroke, resetting her record with a 2:02.36 to place fifth.
"I was most excited about Fay's swims," Cornet said. "She's a transfer, and has a great attitude about Duke. Her swims and enthusiasm for the sport have made us so grateful that she joined our team."
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