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    Auburn Swimmers Set National Records At Wednesday's Olympic Preliminaries Targett and Cielo set to compete in tonight's 100m free final



    Aug. 13, 2008

    BEIJING, China - Four former and future Auburn swimmers were in action Wednesday morning in preliminary action at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

    Competing in the session were incoming freshmen Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (Bahamas) and Stephanie Horner (Canada), along with former Tigers Jeremy Knowles (Bahamas) and Nick Bovell (Trinidad & Tobago).

    None of the four were fast enough to advance to tonight's finals session, but it was Horner leading the group as she was part of two Canadian records.

    Horner swam the leadoff of the Canadian 800-meter freestyle relay that finished fourth in its heat, but 10th overall - finishing 0.63 seconds out of eighth place and a finals appearance. The team clocked a Canadian record time of 7:56.26 in the race.

    Horner led the team of Genevieve Saumur, Erica Morningstar and Julia Wilkinson with a 1:58.00 split, the fastest split on the team. Her split was also tied for fourth among all leadoff times with only Caroline Burckle (United States), Yu Yang (China) and Joanne Jackson (Great Britain) swimming faster than her.

    The time also sets a new Canadian record in the 200m freestyle, breaking the record time of 1:58.35 she swam earlier in the week in the 200m free preliminary.

    Another member of the Auburn incoming freshman class was in action as Vanderpool-Wallace finished 28th in the women's 100m freestyle. She finished second in her heat with a Bahamas record time o f 55.61, finishing just 0.51 seconds out of 16th place and a semifinal appearance.

    The time breaks her own Bahamas record and is a personal-best by 0.4 seconds.

    Rounding out the Auburn contingent was Knowles and Bovell swimming in the 200m IM. Knowles was top among the two as he finished fourth in his heat, 24th overall with a Bahamanian record time of 2:01.35. It breaks his own Bahamanian record and is a personal-best time by 1.44 seconds.

    Knowles finished 0.78 seconds behind 16th-place Dinko Jukic (Austria), missing out on a semifinal appearance.

     

     

    Also swimming in the 200m IM was former Tiger Bovell as he finished fifth in his heat, 36th overall, with a time of 2:03.90.

    Two Auburn swimmers will be in action in tonight's finals session with Matt Targett (Australia) and Cesar Cielo (Brazil) suiting up in the 100m freestyle final.

    Targett, who will be a senior at Auburn in the fall, will swim in lane six. His semifinal time of 47.88, a personal-best, ranks 10th all-time in the event. Just two lanes over from Targett will be Cielo in lane eight. He enters with a seed time of 48.07.

    Action in the men's 100m free final is set to begin at 9:49 p.m. CT.

    For more information on the 2008 Olympics, check out the official Olympics Web site at http://en.beijing2008.cn/ or go to Auburn Olympics Central at http://auburntigers.cstv.com/ot/olympians.html.

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