The No. 5 University of Florida women’s swim team sits in 14^th following day one of the 2006 NCAA Championship Meet in Athens, Ga. The Gators had five competitors in finals events throughout the evening session, including one in the championship final of the 500 freestyle.

In the championship final of the 500 freestyle, sophomore Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) recorded the ninth-fastest time in Florida history with a 4:42.69 season-best performance to take fifth-place. Head coach Gregg Troy was pleased with Burckle’s performance in the 500 free.

“I’m really proud of Caroline,” said Troy. “With as much illness as she’s had to come through this season, she did a really great job of standing up and racing. She put herself into position to win her 500 tonight, but just ran out of gas at the end. I’m comfortable that she’s going to continue getting better throughout the meet.”

The 200 freestyle relay team of freshman Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas), sophomore Natalie Pike (Boca Raton, Fla.), sophomore Samantha Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn.) and sophomore Kim Larson (Longwood, Fla.) notched a time of 1:33.32 in the B-final of the event to finish in 8th-place in their heat and 16^th overall.

Senior Vipa Bernhardt (Bad Hersfeld, Germany) and junior Candace Weiman (Castro Valley, Calif.) both competed in the B-final of the 200 individual medley, earning second and eighth in their heat, and 10th and 16th overall. Bernhardt notched a 2:00.12 in the effort, while Weiman clocked in at 2:01.40, both of which fall in the top-10 season-best list.

The 400 medley relay team of Vanderbilt, Bernhardt, Weiman and Pike beat their morning prelim time, by recording a 3:39.67 to claim 11th-place.

In the team standings Arizona leads the meet with 161 points, while SEC foe Auburn sits in second with 151. Georgia claimed the day one third-place spot with 147 points, Stanford notched 82 to take fourth and California rounds out the top five with 79 points. The Gator women are 14th after the first day of competition with 36 points. Troy feels the best is yet to come for his team, and looks for it to improve as the meet goes on.

“We didn’t do as well as we would have liked overall today,” said Troy. “We were pretty good this morning, but we missed putting a couple relays into the finals that we thought we could. This evening we just didn’t swim as well as we’re capable, or as well as we should have. Today was our weakest day event-wise, so we’ll look to move up as our stronger events come around in the meet.”

Action resumes at the 2006 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships Friday morning at 11 a.m. with preliminary heats of the 200 medley relay, 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 800 freestyle relay, followed by finals heats of the same events at 7 p.m. A full recap and results will be available following both the Friday preliminary and finals events at www.gatorzone.com, or up-to-the-minutes stats and times can be seen via live-scoring at http://georgiadogs.collegesports.com/sports/c-swim/c-swim-history/2006-w-swim-ncaas/geo-06-w-swim-ncaa-schedule.htm.

Day One Preliminary Recap

The 200 freestyle relay team of sophomore Natalie Pike (Boca Raton, Fla.), freshman Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas), junior Candace Weiman (Castro Valley, Calif.) and sophomore Caroline Burckle (Louisville, Ky.) opened up the 2006 National Meet with a season-best effort of 1:31.93. The team took 16th place with the swim, to earn an appearance in the evening B-final.

In the 500 freestyle Burckle notched a than season-best 4:43.69 to finish in eighth place overall in the prelim. Sophomore Kim Larson (Longwood, Fla.) just missed the finals cut with her prelim effort of 4:47.80 in the 500, to finish in 18th and serve as the second alternate in the event.

Freshmen Laurabeth Guenthner (Wellington, Fla.) and Stephanie Cota (Granite Bay, Calif.) also competed in the 500 freestyle prelim, posting times of 4:48.46 and 4:54.98, respectively. Guenthner claimed 23rd place, while Cota finished in 49th.

In the 200 individual medley prelim, Weiman recorded a career-best 1:59.95, which also clocked in as the number 10 time on the Florida All-Time Top-10 list. Weiman notched a 10th-place finish with the swim to earn a spot in the B-final Thursday evening. Vipa Bernhardt (Bad Hersfeld, Germany) also qualified for a spot in the B-final with her time of 2:00.68 in the 200 IM prelim.

Junior Ashley Carusone (Gainesville, Fla.) and Pike competed in the 200 IM as well, putting up times of 2:01.84 and 2:03.34, respectively. Carusone finished in 31st-place, while Pike’s season-best effort put her at 48th.

In the 50 freestyle prelim Vollmer swam a 22.99, the eighth-fastest time in Florida history, and her second-best of the season, as she finished in 25th-place.

In the final event of the morning prelim the 400 medley relay team of Samantha Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn.), Bernhardt, Weiman and Burckle notched a time of 3:39.81 to finish in 10th, and earn a spot in the evening B-final.

Day One Finals First Place Finishers

Top-10 Team Standings Following Day One

Day One Florida Finals Times

Day One Florida Prelim Times

Florida NCAA Championship Accomplishments