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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 7:02 p.m., Saturday, March 21, 2009

Swimming: Vollmer leads Cal to NCAA women's swimming title

Associated Press

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Dana Vollmer cruised in the 100-yard freestyle and anchored the winning 400 freestyle relay to lead California to the team title at the NCAA women's swimming and diving championships.

Vollmer won the 100 freestyle in 47.17 seconds Saturday night, more than three-tenths better than Karlee Bispo of Texas. Cal pulled away from Stanford and Texas in the 400 freestyle relay, winning in an NCAA-record time of 3 minutes, 9.88 seconds.

The meet-ending 400 relay decided the team title. Cal's first-place finish pushed the Golden Bears to 411.5 points. Georgia was just fourth in the relay and settled for second in the team race at 400.5 points.

U.S. Olympic gold medalist Rebecca Soni of Southern Cal won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:05.52.

Georgia's Wendy Trott, a South African who qualified for the Beijing Olympics, took the 1,650-yard freestyle in 15:45.49.

Gemma Spofforth, who competed for Britain in Beijing, led a Florida sweep in the 200 backstroke. She won in a meet-record time of 1:49.11. Teammates Teresa Crippen (1:51.59) and Stephanie Proud (1:51.81) were second and third.

Another U.S. Olympian, Stanford's Elaine Breeden, won the 200 butterfly in 1:50.98, another meet record.