March 19, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ohio - For the fifth-consecutive season, a Spider will represent the University of Richmond at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championship when sophomore Katie Sieben swims in Columbus, Ohio beginning Thursday night. In her first career NCAA meet, Sieben swims three events - one on each night of the Championship.

LIVE SCORING

A native of Seymour, Conn., Sieben swims the 50 free on Thursday evening, the 100 fly finals on Friday night and the 100 free on Saturday evening.

"This season women's swimming is considerably faster around the country," said head coach Matt Barany. "It took unprecedented "A"-cuts to get into the meet. This is Katie's first national championship and she picked a great year to make it."

Sieben punched her ticket to Columbus early this season, swimming the 100 fly at November's Terrapin Cup in a time of 53.73, which then ranked as the third-fastest time in the nation and marked Richmond's second-ever NCAA "A"-cut. That time now stands as the 31st-best entering this year's Championship.

The sophomore, who was the 2007 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, also had "B"-cut times in the 50 free (23.09) and 100 free (50.17), allowing her to compete in those events this weeken. The 50 free time ranks 58th on the NCAA office psych sheet, while the 100 free is 65th.

"Katie isn't one to be phased by the atmosphere," said Barany. "She'll be inspired to go faster."

Lauren Beaudreau and Jessica Witt had each competed in the last two NCAA Championships for Richmond.

Ohio State University will host the NCAA Championship event and live scoring throughout can be found at RichmondSpiders.com.