Hardt earns All-American honors

Staff Reports

Carson High graduate Julie Hardt earned another All-American honor during her career at Georgia when she swam for the Bulldogs' second place finishing 800-meter freestyle relay team on Friday at the NCAA Women's Swimming Championships in College Station, Texas.

Georgia finished in 7 minutes, 53.32 seconds. California won the race in 7:50.94. Hardt had an excellent time in her third leg as she finished in 1:58.68.

Hardt also placed 14th in the 200 free. She took 14th in the preliminaries in 1:59.60, then placed 14th in the consolation finals in 1:59.46. Kate Hardt, another CHS graduate and a sophomore at Minnesota, placed 32nd in the 200 free in 2:00.91.

CHS graduate Lauren Costella, who swims for the Carson Tigersharks, took 42nd in the 400 individual medley, finishing in 4:50.63.

After Friday's events, defending champion and favorite Auburn was well on its way to repeating as champions with 399 points. Georgia was second (278), Arizona third (261), Cal fourth (179.5), Florida fifth (171) and Stanford sixth (159).

The meet concludes today, Costella will compete in the 1,500 free where she's seeded 11th and Julie will also swim in the 1,500. Kate will swim in the 100 free.