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Players Mentioned
Freshman Aemisegger Places Third In 500 Free At NCAA Championships
March 08, 2007 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Freshman Alicia Aemisegger, the 2007 Ivy League Championships Swimmer of the Meet, began her NCAA Championships week in style Thursday night. Entering the 500 free competition with the nation's ninth-best time, Aemisegger set personal best times in both her preliminary and finals competition and claimed third-place overall. Her final time of 4:38.88 was less than two seconds off the winning time and more than three seconds faster than any other underclassman in the country.
Auburn senior Adrienne Binder won the competition in 4:36.96, while Florida junior Caroline Burckle edged Aemisegger out for second in 4:38.28. Aemisegger finished ahead of another Auburn senior, Hayley Piersol, while the next-closest freshman was sixth-place finisher Blake Hayter of California. The Princeton freshman set a Princeton record with her third-place time, and it topped the previous mark of 4:40.52, which Aemisegger set hours earlier in the preliminaries.
"It was just a great swim," veteran head coach Susan Teeter said afterwards. "I'm excited for her to have such a great swim before her 400 IM tomorrow night. I really anticipate her having a lot of fun with the 400 IM and having an exciting ending to just a great freshman season."
While Aemisegger came in with the ninth-fastest time in the 500 free, she will bring the nation's second-best time into Friday's 400 IM. Aemisegger swam the 400 IM in 4:09.27, which is behind only Stanford's Julia Smit time. Smit also carried the top time into Thursday's 400 IM, and she ended third.
Aemisegger will join diver Michelle DeMond in competition Friday, and the Tiger freshman will end her week Saturday swimming the 200 breast.