The Barometer Online

Issue date: 3/12/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Sports Information Saori Haruguchi

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The final day of the NCAA Championships was just another day for Saori Haruguchi of the Oregon State swim team. The sophomore set a school record in the morning preliminaries in the 200-yard butterfly (1:56.23) and earned All-American honors for the second day in a row by finishing sixth overall (1:56.05) and setting the school record once again during the finals. OSU finished 29th overall with 21 points. Auburn was the NCAA Champion with 535 points.

On OSU's all-time top-10 list, Haruguchi owns seven of the spots in the 200 fly. Of the 14 individual events on the top-10 list, Haruguchi set school records in five this season.

"Saori did a tremendous job this entire season," said OSU head coach Larry Liebowitz. "I can't wait to see what the team will be like her senior year with the progress the program is making."

Also competing in the 200 fly for OSU was Kayla Rawlings, who finished 24th overall (1:59.33).

"Kayla had a really nice swim today", said Liebowitz. "The meet was incredibly fast and was competitive in every event."

In the 200 fly, the Pacific-10 Conference was well represented in the finals. Elaine Breeden of Stanford won the event, Whitney Myers of Arizona finished second, Dana Vollmer of California was third, Erin Reilly of California was fourth and Haruguchi was sixth.

On the season, OSU finished 8-8 overall and 1-6 in the Pacific-10 Conference. The four swimmers OSU sent to the NCAAs in 2007 were the most in school history. OSU also made school history by sending a relay team to the NCAAs. The foursome of Haruguchi, Anna Crandall, Rawlings and Brittney Iverson finished 16th in the 800-free relay (7:16.77) and 23rd in the 400-medley relay (3:49.01). All four swimmers earned All-American status for their role in the 800-free relay, another first in OSU history.

"We accomplished one of our goals this season by qualifying a relay in the NCAAs," Liebowitz said. "Hopefully, we can continue to expand the number of swimmers each year and qualify more relays."

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