April 20, 2002

Oxford, Ohio - The Santa Clara Aquamaids swept all three final events, and claimed six of nine medals on Saturday to win the club's 11th consecutive overall title at the 2002 U.S. National Synchronized Swimming Championships in Oxford, Ohio. In the process, the Aquamaids won the club's 10th consecutive team title, while two-time Olympian Anna Kozlova moved into second place behind Tracie Ruiz-Conforto on the all-time solo gold chart with five solo national titles.

Kozlova's free routine "Night on Bald Mountain" earned a 99.000 from the judges to give her a 98.417 composite score. Kozlova led two-time solo champion Bill May by 0.167 following Thursday's technical routine. May's "Heartbeat" routine finished second with a composite total of 97.917. May regained his golden status by teaming with long-time partner Kristina Lum for duet gold with a score of 98.167. The pair carried a technical routine lead of 0.083 into the final, which proved to be the difference after May and Lum's "Snake Charmer" routine tied Kozlova and Alison Bartosik in the free routine final swim.

Ohio's hometown favorite, Becky Jasontek of Loveland and partner Tracy Long, finished third at 96.250.

Santa Clara's "Chess" team routine featuring more than 50 pattern changes proved to be the hands-down favorite in the free routine final, earning a final composite mark of 98.834. Walnut Creek, facing a one-point deficit after the technical program, finished a close second at 97.167 with Ohio State third at 95.584.

Swimming for Santa Clara were Bartosik, Tammy Crow, May, Kozlova, Sara Lowe, Lauren McFall, Andrea Nott and Kendra Zanotto.

Thursday's technical routine marks are weighted to 50 percent and combined with 50 percent of Friday's preliminary free routine to determine the eight finalists in each event. In the final, the 50 percent free prelim score is replaced with 50 percent of the final free routine score.

Top athletes now advance to the 2002 National Team Trials, May 3-5 in Columb us, Ohio.

Solo Final
1, Anna Kozlova, Santa Clara, 98.417. 2, Bill May, Santa Clara, 97.917. 3, Lauren McFall, Santa Clara, 95.500. 4, Carolina Moraes, Ohio State, 94.417. 5, Tammy Crow, Santa Clara, 94.000. 6, Gina Pietras, Walnut Creek, 93.584. 7, Alison Bartosik, Santa Clara, 92.667. 8, Sara Lowe, Santa Clara, 92.666.

Duet Final
1, Kristina Lum, Bill May, Santa Clara, 98.167. 2, Alison Bartosik, Anna Kozlova, Santa Clara, 98.084. 3, Becky Jasontek, Tracy Long, Walnut Creek, 96.250. 4, Lauren McFall, Andrea Nott, Santa Clara, 95.917. 5, Isabela Moraes, Carolina Moraes, Ohio State, 94.500. 6, Erin Dobratz, Katie Norris, Stanford, 93.751. 7T, Stephanie Nesbitt, Allison Wible, Riverside, 92.334. 7T, Ashley McHugh, Gina Pietras, Walnut Creek, 92.333.

Team Final
1, Santa Clara A, 98.834. 2, Walnut Creek A, 97.167. 3, Ohio State A, 95.584. 4, Riverside, 94.084. 5, Santa Clara B, 93.751. 6, Ohio State B, 92.667. 7, Walnut Creek B, 92.500. 8, Univ. of Alabama-Birmingham, 90.917.