Day Two Results

Virginia Tech - 25th

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Virginia Tech's Jessica Botzum (Sr., Raleigh, N.C.) recorded her best finish ever in the 100-yard breaststroke to earn All-America honors in the event for the second straight year as the H₂Okies moved into 25^th-place after day two of the 2008 Women's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Ohio State's McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.

Virginia Tech currently has 29 points after Botzum finished fifth in the 100 breast final for 14 points and the team of Botzum, Jordan McHorney (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.), Megan Newell (Jr., Ashburn, Va.) and Sara Smith (Jr., McGaheysville, Va.) placed 13^th in the 200 medley relay for eight points to earn All-America honorable mention honors for the second day in a row.

Arizona leads the team rankings with 361 points, followed by Auburn (244) and Texas A&M (227) in second and third-place, respectively. Virginia leads the ACC participants with 30.

"I grade day two as a very good day," head coach Ned Skinner said. "We raced hard. Every prelim swim has been a lifetime best by our girls. They are going out there and competing and representing. Sure, we want more, but we are proud of what we are accomplishing here."

Coming into the meet as a three-time All-American, Botzum swam a time of 1:00.61 in the final for her second All-American honor in the 100 breast after finishing fifth in the prelim with a new school record time of 1:00.56. Botzum tops her own previous school record mark of 1:00.73, which she set at the 2007 NCAA Championship 100 breast prelim before finishing eighth-overall. She seeks her first career NCAA title in the 200 breast on Saturday.

"The performances of Jessica Botzum are just so inspiring, just the career she's had and knowing how she's going out in style and just having a ball," Skinner said. "She's really just enjoying herself, and it's really gratifying to watch a student-athlete who's already accomplished so much still representing Virginia Tech."

Botzum was also part of the 200 medley relay team that took 13^th in the final at 1:40.02 after slipping into the night session with a 16^th-place result in the prelim at 1:40.11. The finish tops the four women's own 14^th-place result in the 400 medley relay on Thursday for the best performance ever by a H2Okie relay squad at the NCAAs. This also becomes the first time ever that Tech scored points in two relay events in the same meet.

"It's been such a great experience in that we knew that we didn't swim fast enough at ACCs," Skinner said. "They found a way to go faster, and then they gained confidence from that and parlayed that to NCAAs where they came here expecting to do well. They came here expecting to score, and even though our time wasn't faster today, to come back tonight and improve by three places is something we're really proud of."

The other strong individual swim of the day belonged to Newell as she shattered her own school record time in the 100 butterfly with a 53.45 to finish 20^th in the prelim, just missing out on a top-16 spot for the finals by .14 seconds. Newell's previous best time was 54.22, set at the 2007 Nike Cup.

"In her swimming world, this was groundbreaking because it's been such a journey for Megan," Skinner said. "She has found so much renewed success that it just goes to show that hard work and confidence pays off. (Assistant Coach) Braden Holloway deserves an enormous amount of credit for her development as she has just been incredibly coachable by him. I really think that they as a team really merit a lot of the credit."

A day after snapping the 10-year-old ACC record in the 50 free, Smith participated in the 100 fly, finishing with a career-best time of 54.66 to place 45^th out of 57 competitors.

The final day of the NCAA Championships begins Saturday morning with the prelims at 11 a.m. and continues at 7 p.m. with the finals. Botzum will swim in the 200 breast, while Smith seeks to earn points in the 100 free for Tech. Fans can follow all of the action live at http://www.ncaa.com/swimming-womens/default.aspx?id=460.

"Our expectations tomorrow are to go out and race like the All-Americans that we are and to leave it all in Columbus and have no regrets," Skinner said. "I feel that Sara has overcome so much, and I know how badly she wants it. I want her to enjoy tomorrow and the same with Jessica. It's going to be kind of a bittersweet day for her and us because it's been such an amazing run. Obviously, we would like nothing more than for her to have the storybook ending to the most prolific career in the history of Virginia Tech swimming."