At the 1989 Eastern Women's Swimming League Championships held Feb. 23-25 at McCoy Natatorium, the women's swimming and diving team placed second as expected, but came away with a few surprises.

Sophomore Kristin Lilly qualified for the NCAA Championships with a victory in the 200-yard freestyle (1:49.05) and also won the 100 freestyle. She garnered two more first-place finishes as a member of both the 200 freestyle relay and 400 individual medley relay.

In the 400 individual medley relay, Denise Sonntag, Beth Haas, Kristen Elias and Lilly qualified for the NCAAs with an Eastern and pool record time of 3:50.30. Penn State was the only Eastern team to send swimmers to the NCAAs this year and continued its streak of NCAA qualifying since 1973.

Yesterday at the Natatorium, Elias qualified for the NCAAs with a 55.15 in the 100 butterfly in an invitational meet for those swimmers who hadn't already qualified for NCAAs.

"This week I swam faster, I had my best splits," said Elias, who competed in three events in last years NCAAs. "I know I missed my taper by a week. I'm pretty happy."

Lilly's accomplishments earned her the EWSL Most Outstanding Swimmer Award for the meet.

"I wasn't thinking about it (the award) and it definitely wasn't why I was swimming," Lilly said. "With a meet like this, it's a great honor."

"She was a logical choice, but I really thought they would give it to an Ivy (League) swimmer," Coach Bob Krimmel said. "It must have been the relay swimming that impressed everybody. "

In the team standings, pre-meet favorite Harvard ran away with the title with 919 points. The Lady Lions totaled 708.5, almost 100 points more than third-place Pittsburgh's 609. Rounding out the top ten were Brown (553), Princeton (473.5), Cornell, Penn, Yale, Columbia and Boston University.

The runner-up position made Penn State the only school to finish in the top five at Easterns every year since 1974.

"I was real happy," Assistant Coach Bruce Bronsdon said. "As a team we swam solidly. It was supposed to be close for second, but it wasn't even close."

"I was really proud," Krimmel said. "This team came together and with everything that hit us this year, we put all the pieces (in place). As a team we came together real well, (both) in the relays, where Harvard was favored to win all, and with the freshmen who proved they could do it on their first shot."

Friday night was the most productive for Penn State as the host team won four of seven events. Starting off the evening, Jane Kleiderlein, Jeanne Wilkins, Tracey Sheleheda and Lilly broke the Eastern and pool record in the 200 freestyle relay with a mark of 1:34.65.

Probably one of the most bittersweet moments of the meet came when Elias, who easily won the 100 butterfly (55.91), missed the NCAA time by a slight .02 of a second.

"It's nothing (.02), not even an extra kick," Elias said, "I was really scared and put a lot of pressure on myself. I wanted it so bad -- it was a different stroke, I was trying too hard."

After Lilly captured the 200 freestyle, the 400 medley relay team redeemed the night for Elias.

"Most kids would be outwardly upset, but Kristen refused to let her inner emotions take over," Krimmel said. "But when she split 55.3 (in the butterfly portion of the race) I was going bonkers. She did it for the team -- that's the kind of person she is."

Other highlights of the evening included Wilkins' fourth-place finish behind Elias in the 100 butterfly. For Wilkins, a senior, it was a special moment.

"I've never been in a final so I was happy to be there," Wilkins said. "I went out and swam as hard as I could and tonight it clicked for me. This is my last appearance, it's something I've dreamt about -- I'm flying high."

"Jeanne has been on that second level for two years," Krimmel said, "and she has contributed a lot of points for the team, so it was nice to see her up there. "

Other results Friday included Brown's Joanna Zeiger first place in the 400 IM (4:25.47) and Pitt's Laura Lee Sullivan's winning 1:04.58 in the 100 breaststroke. That event saw two Penn Staters place in the top six -- Haas in fourth (1:06.27) and Marianne Quinn in sixth (1:06.95). Sheila Findley (58.89) of Harvard won the 100 backstroke.

Saturday saw Elias retain her 200 butterfly crown with a time of 2:04.14 and Lilly round off her string of victories with a 51.22 in the 100 freestyle.

Harvard's Stacie Duncan won the timed finals in the 1,650 freestyle with a 16:53.68. Penn State's Erin Dittmar garnered seventh with a time of 17:17.73. Findley easily won the 200 backstroke with a 2:03.67 and Brown's Carolyn Ryder took the 200 breaststroke with a 2:19.68.

Lady Lion diver Beth Fahey placed fourth (414.80) behind Northeastern's Dana Kozimor's 443.65 in the three-meter diving championships, Kozimor's second title (with the one meter win) in this meet.

Pitt won its second event of the weekend as Laure Walczak, Tricia Rickert, Celeste Makiel and Christine Gallagher scored a 3:27.17 in the 400 freestyle relay. Sheleheda, Fretz, Elias, and Lilly had a 3:29.50 with their third-place finish.

"Friday night we stole the meet, " Krimmel said. "On Saturday, we were tired, plus we were sitting in second without a chance of first or third. The anticipation wasn't there."

Next up for the Lady Lions is the NCAA pre-qualifying diving meet this weekend at Villanova. Fahey and freshman Amy Schmidt will dive for Penn State. Lilly, Elias, Sonntag and Haas will next compete March 16-18 at the NCAAs in Indianapolis, Ind.