Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Big Ten Championships
Northwestern in Eighth at Big Ten Championships
2/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 18, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- No. 24 Northwestern is in eighth place following the first full day of action at the 2010 Big Ten Championships. Following is a complete recap of the day's preliminary and finals highlights for the Wildcats:
THURSDAY'S PRELIMINARIES RECAP:
A pair of Wildcats earned spots in scoring finals during Thursday morning's preliminary action at the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, which saw heats in three swimming events and on the 1-meter springboard.
Senior Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School) was Northwestern's lone competitor to earn an evening swim in the 500 free, receiving a consolation final spot for Thursday night with a season-best and NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time of 4:46.77. She placed 10th overall after the morning's preliminary heats.
In the 200 IM, Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) swam a season-low 2:02.93 to place 19th overall and earn a spot in the bonus final.
Senior Emily Wong (Nepean, Ontario/St. Joseph's) turned in an NCAA `B' cut of 22.78 to tie for sixth in the prelims and earn a lane in the championship final of the race. Freshman Taylor Reynolds (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves) had a career-best 23.15 to finish 19th and junior Teisha Lightbourne (Nassau, Bahamas/Peddie School (N.J.)) swam a 23.27 to take 23rd, putting both Wildcats through the bonus final of that event.
Also of note in the 50 free was Caitlin Masney (Hong Kong, China/Chinese International School), who cut more than a half second off her seed time to swim a career-best 23.47 and finish in 29th position overall.
On the 1-meter springboard, freshman Felicitas Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) grabbed the final scoring spot with a 252.60, good for 16th position.
THURSDAY'S FINALS SESSION
The Wildcats began Thursday evening's finals with an NCAA `B' time of 1:31.04 in the 200 free relay from the team of Wong, Lightbourne, Reynolds and Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen). In an exceptionally close finish, Purdue's anchor swam a 22.31 split to reel in NU and defeat the 'Cats by .03 of a second. At the same time, Engstrom's 22.79 anchor split was enough to chase down Penn State's final leg of 22.93 to defeat the Nittany Lions by .09 of a second.
Shishkoff lowered her time in the 500 free to 4:46.63, also a `B' cut swim, in the consolation final to remain in 10th place overall after finishing second in the heat.
Patterson also cut a fraction of a second off her preliminary time in the 200 IM bonus final, turning in a 2:02.63 in the bonus final to end up 18th overall.
Wong's 22.97 in the championship final of the 50 free put her in eighth place overall in the event. Reynolds ended up second in the bonus final with a 23.12 to take 18th overall while 23.69 was Lightbourne's effort in the same heat.
Lenz topped her morning effort on the 1-meter board with a 273.85, jumping up to 12th place overall for the Wildcats.
For live results and other information on the 2010 Big Ten Championships, link to Purduesports.com
