When the women's swimming and diving teams departed for Charlottesville, Va. and the 2004 ACC Championships, they undoubtedly left with high hopes. Not even the most optimistic Blue Devil, however, would anticipate that after two days of competition Duke would be in fifth position and boast an ACC champion to its credit.
That is exactly what has unfolded, however--the Blue Devils are currently ahead of Georgia Tech, N.C. State, and Clemson, and Katie Ness stunned the ACC by winning the 200-yard individual medley event with a time of 2:00.27, a Duke record that will also automatically qualify Ness for the NCAA Championships. Ness is the first Duke swimmer to finish first in an ACC Championship event since 1981.
"I don't know what to say--I just enjoyed swimming, that alone was fun, and it was a great day for Duke Swimming," an elated Ness said. "As a team we're placing really high right now, we haven't been that high in a long time."
Ness' first-place finish came as a surprise to almost everybody, even Blue Devil coaches.
"I knew she would bounce back from her knee surgery, and I knew that she would swim well, but no one ever foresaw a 2:00 in the 200 IM," assistant coach Lynzee Sharp said. "Her best is a 2:03.... We went crazy--cheering up and down the bench, and the parents were going nuts."
To Ness however, her spectacular finish in the 200 IM was by no means unexpected, and she has already set her sights on the NCAA Championships.
"I'm not really surprised," said Ness, whose opening leg of the 800 freestyle relay was clocked at 1:49.94, a Duke record in the 200 free. "[Getting to NCAAs] has always been one of my goals, so to have an automatic bid is great because I don't have to worry about qualifying."
In the individual events, the Blue Devils have exceeded all expectations. Amy Halligan netted 15 points for her team by finishing fourth in the 200 IM with a time of 2:03.34, a race which qualified for the NCAA "B" standard in the event. Jackie Rodriguez also posted a "B" qualifying mark with her 13th-place finish in the 500 free, which she completed in 4:53.67.
Lauren Hancock also earned points for her team in the 200 IM by finishing 16th with a time of 2:07.60. Julia Lewis was Duke's final individual points contributor--her time of 23.96 in the 50-yard freestyle was good for 14th overall.
Part of the Blue Devils' success can also be directly attributed to the unprecedented success of their traditionally weak relay teams--Duke set a school record in all three relays it raced. On Wednesday, the Blue Devils finished seventh in the 200-yard medley relay, ahead of N.C. State, and fifth in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Thursday, Duke further widened the gap between it and the Wolfpack by defeating them in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
So how did the Duke swimmers spend Thursday night after vaulting themselves into fifth position with only two days of competition remaining?
"We reminisced and just talked about how we're just going to keep swimming fast," Ness said. "We're all excited."
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