Women's swimming qualifies two in 400 IM.

March 19, 1999

ATHENS, GA.--After a luckless first day in the 1999 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday, the North Carolina women's swimming team got some good news on Friday morning as two Tar Heel swimmers qualified for the championship finals in the 400-yard individual medley.

Going into tonight's finals, freshman Katie Hathaway of Matthews, N.C. is the fourth seed in the event with a preliminary time of 4:14.66. Junior Erika Acuff of Gladwyne, Pa. is the sixth seed with a time of 4:16.35.

Carolina put three other swimmers in the water this morning though none qualified for the finals. Freshman Melissa Fiss of Matthews, N.C. finished 36th in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.72 seconds. In the 200-yard freestyle, freshman Stefanie Rulis of Lexington, Ky. was 33rd in 1:49.85 and junior Jennifer Strasburger of Mercer Island, Wash. was 41st with a time of 1:50.53.

North Carolina's 800-yard freestyle relay team of Acuff, Hathaway, Rulis and Strasburger is the #12 seed in tonight's championship final of that event with a seed time of 7:18.12.