March 16, 2001

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. - UNLV swimmer Lorena Diaconescu finished sixteenth in the 200 freestyle preliminaries Friday to advance to the finals at the NCAA Women's Swimming Championships being held at the Nassau Aquatic Center in East Meadow, N.Y.

Diaconescu will swim as the No. 8 seed in the consolation finals. She swam the 200 free prelims with time of 1:47.83, more than a second off her best time of the season (1:46.59).

Barring disqualification from tonight's finals competition, Diaconescu will repeat as an NCAA All-American in the 200 free. Diaconescu finished sixth in the 200 free at the 2000 Championships.

Stefanie Williams, a junior swimming for the University of Georgia, paced the 200 free prelims with a time of 1:45.75.

Diaconescu will also compete Saturday in the 100-yard freestyle preliminaries.