The NCAA News - News and Features

March 17, 1997

Division I

Fox makes Stanford even tougher

Event: 1997 Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Overview: It would be no surprise if Stanford won a sixth straight championship, given that nearly two-thirds of its point production returns from last year. And now, freshman Catherine Fox makes the Cardinal attack even stronger. Fox, a double gold-medal winner in Atlanta, set two records at the Pacific-10 Conference championships in the 100-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. Add to that a senior trio of Claudia Franco, Michelle Jesperson and Sarah Anderson, and Stanford has the ingredients for the title ... A host of challengers are on the prowl, though -- including Pac-10 rival Southern California, led by six-time individual event champion Kristine Quance, who won Pac-10 titles this year in both medleys and the 200-yard breaststroke. She will be joined by Lindsay Benko, defending 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke champion ... Michigan, runner-up in 1995, features freshman Shannon Shakespeare, who earned swimmer-of-the-meet honors as the Wolverines won their 11th straight Big Ten Conference championship. Shakespeare, who swam for Canada in the 1996 Olympics, won three events and set meet records in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard freestyle. Michigan also returns Talor Bendel, a top-five finisher in the 100- and 200-yard freestyles last year, and Anne Kampfe and Jen Eberwein, who give the Wolverines strength in all five relays ... Southern Methodist, second in the team standings a year ago, returns Martina Moravcova, the defending 200-yard freestyle champion; Lia Oberstar, a top-five finisher in both backstroke events last year; Katie McClelland, a top-four finisher in both breaststrokes; and diver Jenny Lingamfelter, a top-four finisher on both the one- and three-meter boards.

Field: The maximum number of participants allowed is 270. All qualifiers who have met the "A" time standard will be admitted in the meet; those who have met the "B" time standard will be considered until the event is filled. No team is allowed more than 18 competitors.

Dates and site: The championships will be March 20-22 at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 5211 for the list of qualifiers, 5212 for the first day's results, 5213 for the second day's results and 5214 for the final day's results. Individual and team results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Championships results will be published in the March 31 issue of The NCAA News.

Television coverage: ESPN will televise the championships on a delayed basis at 12:30 a.m. (Eastern time) March 30.