March 30, 2007
AUBURN, Ala. - Nine current and former members of the Auburn men's and women's swimming teams were in action Friday during the sixth day of competition at the FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
Former Tiger Eric Shanteau was the lone participant in a final on Friday, placing fifth in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:11.50. But four other Tigers qualified for finals that will take place on Saturday.
In the women's 200m backstroke, the top two finalists are both former Tigers. Margaret Hoelzer had the third-best mark in the prelims of 2:10.25, then improved to 2:07.70 in the semifinals, which was the top time in the field. Kirsty Coventry, who had the top prelim mark of 2:07.99, was just .08 seconds behind Hoelzer in the semifinals, posting the second-best mark of 2:07.78.
Another former Auburn swimmer, Erin Volcan, also swam in the prelims of the 200 back, but did not advance, placing 23rd with a time of 2:14.89.
Rising junior Cesar Cielo, who finished fourth in the finals of the 100m free on Thursday, qualified for the final of the 50m free on Friday. Cielo was sixth in the prelims with a time of 22.25, then posted a time of 22.09 in the semifinals, which ranked third best and was just one-tenth of a second behind the top mark posted by Sweden's Stefan Nystrand.
Fred Bousquet also reached the semifinals in the 50m free after clocking a time of 22.33 in the prelims, but his time of 22.50 in the semis was only good enough for 12th place.
Former Tiger George Bovell just missed making the cut for the semifinals of the 50 free, placing 17th in the prelims with a time of 22.64. Rising junior Jakob Andkjaer was 29th in the prelims with a mark of 23.01. Andkjaer also swam in the prelims of the 100 fly, again finishing 29th with a time of 53.71.
The fourth Auburn swimmer to reach a final was Hayley Peirsol, who will swim in the 800m free final Saturday. Peirsol, who repeated as NCAA champion in the 1650-yard free as a senior in 2007, clocked a time of 8:29.82 in the prelims to rank seventh and move on to the final.
Competition at the FINA World Championships continues through April 1.