March 13, 2008

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Five female Gaucho swimmers head to Columbus, Ohio March 20-22 to compete in the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Junior Katy Freeman leads the charge, swimming in three individual events.

Naomi Javanifard, Sara Nicponski, Erin Yamamoto, and Anne Marie May will once again join forces to swim in the 200 medley relay. The league champion relay team hold up the sixth seed with the Big West Championship time of 1:38.70.

Freeman's outstanding performance at the Big West Championships propelled her two automatic qualifying and school record times in the 100 and 200 breast. In the 100 breast, Freeman is seeded ninth. Her highest seed is seventh in the 200 breast and she is within a second of everyone seeded as high as third place. Freeman's time of 2:01.52 qualified her for the "B" standard and the 58th fastest time in Div. 1 swimming.

Big West Swimmer of the Year sophomore Anne Marie May is headed to the NCAA's in her two school record events, the 50 free and the 100 free. May qualified for the 50 free with the seventh best Div. 1 time this season (22.21). Her time of 49.34 in the 100 free is good to tie with Megan Meyer of Wisconsin for the 33rd seed.

Freshman of the Year Sara Nicponski's time from the Husky Invite earlier in the season gave her automatic cut times in the 100 and 200 breast events. In the 100 breast, Nicponski is the 21st seed with a time of 1:01.56. Her 2:13.63 performance in the 200 breast puts her at the 22nd seed in the 200 breast.

Junior Erin Yamamoto's efforts in the 100 and 200 fly paid off in a trip to the big show. Her Big West Championships meet time of 2:00.97 in the 100 fly pushed her into the 44th seed in the event. Yamamoto is the 48th seed in the 200 fly, with a qualifying time of 54.61.

Sophomore Naomi Javanifard also qualified for two individual events, the 100 backstroke and the 100 fly. In the 100 backstroke, Javanifard claims the 36th seed with her time of 55.25 from the Big West Championships. Javanifard has the 46th seed in the 100 fly, again with her time from the Big West Championships (54.55).