March 21, 2002

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- The North Carolina women's swimming team has placed four entries into the consolation finals Thursday night at the NCAA Division I Women*s Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Texas.

The top qualifier for the Tar Heels this morning was junior Christy Watkins in the 50-yard freestyle as she placed 10th with a time of 22.75 seconds. UNC senior Katie Hathaway qualified 12th in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:59.91.

Both Tar Heel relay teams qualified for the consolation finals on Thursday night. The 200-yard freestyle relay team qualified 14th with a time of 1:32.14. The relay consists of sophomore Jessi Perruquet (23.14), Hathaway (23.02), senior Stefanie Rulis (22.63) and Watkins (22.35). The Tar Heels just snuck into the consolation final in the 400-yard medley relay, taking 16th place in the prelims with a time of 3:44.17.

Carolina had three other entrants on Thursday morning. Sophomore Whitney Smith was 31st in the 500-yard freestyle at 4:49.75 and senior Molly Sullivan was 50th in 4:54.48. Sophomore Becky Acker finished 52nd with a time of 2:04.31.