AUBURN, ALA. - The 2003 women's National Colligate Athletic Association swimming and diving competition kicked off today at Auburn University. University of Hawai'i junior Yan Chen and sophomore YingJuan Zhen, both natives of China, are representing UH at the competition. The two events that Chen and Zhen participated in today were the 200 IM preliminaries and the 50 Free preliminaries, respectively.

The cutoff time for the 200 IM preliminaries was 2:01.65. Those who did not make the qualifying time did not advance on to the finals. Chen came just over a half-second from turning in the required time. She finished 29th of the 65 swimmers in the race with her time of 2:02.08. The top two finishers of the event are both swimmers from Auburn. Senior Maggie Bowen took the top-finish with her time of 1:56.96 and following her was sophomore Kristy Coventry, who touched the wall at 1:57.38.

Like Chen, Zhen did not advance on to the finals in the 50 Free event. Zhen finished the 50 Free preliminary race in the 66th spot, turning in a time of 24.07. The qualifying time was 23.02. The top taker in this event was also a swimmer from Auburn. Junior Becky Short clocked in a time of 21.88, earning the top finish as well as a pool record.

Tomorrow's events Chen and Zhen will be participating in are the 400 IM and the 100 Back, respectively. The preliminaries start at 11 a.m. and are followed by the finals at 7 p.m. For a complete listing of results, logon to www.ncaasports.com/swimming/womens