March 23, 2002

AUSTIN, TEXAS - Senior Katie Hathaway broke the Atlantic Coast Conference record in the 200-yard breaststroke as the North Carolina women's swimming and diving team qualified five entries for the finals Saturday at the 2002 NCAA Women's Division I Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Texas.

Hathaway, a Matthews, N.C., qualified fifth Saturday morning with a time of 2:11.74. That time broke the ACC record of 2:11.82 set by Danica Wizniuk of Virginia in 1999. Four other Tar Heel entries qualified for consolation final swims during the preliminaries this morning.

Sophomore Jessi Perruquet qualified ninth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.30 seconds. That is Perruquet's career best time in the event. Her previous best was 49.77. Sophomore Becky Acker qualified for the consolation final in the 200-yard breaststroke as she finished 10th in the preliminaries in her career best time of 2:12.86. Her previous best time was 2:12.96. Junior Christy Watkins qualified for the consolation final in the 100-yard freestyle with her time of 49.71 seconds. That is a career best time for Watkins. Her previous best time was 49.77.

UNC's 400-yard freestyle relay team qualified in 14th place with a time of 3:22.76. The relay consisted of Watkins (49.77), Hathaway (51.11), senior Stefanie Rulis (52.19) and Perruquet (49.69).

In other entries Saturday, junior Laura Collier finished 24th in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:59.45 and sophomore Kelly Weeks finished 22nd in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:00.07.

Two Tar Heels--senior Molly Sullivan and sophomore Whitney Smith--will swim for Carolina Saturday night in the timed finals of the 1650-yard freestyle.

UNC is in 14th place in the team standings going into tonight's final session with 69 points.