Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Big Ten Championships
Northwestern Remains Eighth at Big Ten Championships
2/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 19, 2010
Results
Big Ten Championships Friday Photo Gallery (Images by Walt Middleton)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- No. 24 Northwestern remained in eighth place after Friday's action at the 2010 Big Ten Championships. A complete recap of the day's preliminary and finals action follows.
The Wildcats have 171 points to rank behind Penn State's total of 230 and in front of ninth-place Iowa's 102.
FRIDAY PRELIMINARY SESSION RECAP:
Seven different Wildcats earned NCAA `B' provisional qualifying times and NU placed eight into scoring finals during Friday morning preliminary action at the 2010 Big Ten Championships.
Strong swims highlighted the first event of Northwestern's Friday morning, the 400 IM. Freshman Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) dropped nearly three seconds off her seed time for a NU-season-best and NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time of 4:19.54, which placed her ninth after the preliminaries. Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) did cut more than three seconds from her seed time to also earn an NCAA `B' cut of 4:19.67, putting her into the consolation final alongside King.
Hannah Points (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) swam a 4:24.44 and Jacquie Godbe (Rapid City, S.D./Stevens) turned in a 4:24.56 to finish 27th and 28th, respectively.
In the 100 fly, Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) placed ninth with a career-best 55.00 to make it two-straight events with a Wildcat as the top qualifier in the consolation final. Katie Eschenburg (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) also notched a lane in the consolation heat for Friday night with a 55.29 during the prelims, putting her 15th after the morning.
Alex Kraus (Birmingham, Ala./Vestavia Hills) swam a 55.84 to earn a spot in the bonus final as the 23rd-fastest qualifier. Marybeth Hall (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) is one of the alternates for the 100 fly bonus final after turning in a career-best 56.00, a full second quicker than her seed time, to place 26th overall.
Also of note, senior Rachel Rys (Goleta, Calif./Dos Pueblos) knocked a full half-second off her previous season best with a 56.16 to come in 30th in the 100 fly.
In the 200 free, senior Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School) blew away her previous career best with a blazing `B' time of 1:46.50 to qualify third for Friday night's championship final. She dropped 2.34 seconds off her seed time in the race to lead a contingent of three Wildcats with a `B' cut in the event.
Junior Ellen Grigg (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School) snuck into the final scoring spot for Friday night with a `B' time of 1:49.04, .05 of a second in front of 17th place. Caitlin Masney (Hong Kong, China/Chinese International School) also earned an NCAA `B' consideration time with a 1:49.21 to place 19th and earn a bonus final slot.
Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) will represent Northwestern in the consolation final of the 200 breast after swimming an NCAA `B' time of 1:02.63 to place 13th overall after morning prelims. No other Wildcats earned a second swim in the event, although freshman Hall did drop 1.23 off her seed time to place 30th overall.
Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen) did not earn a scoring final position in the 100 back, but she did drop a full second from her seed time to record an NCAA `B' provisional cut of 55.59, placing her 18th overall and giving her a second swim Friday night in the bonus final. She will be joined by Eschenburg, whose 55.78 placed her 22nd overall. Senior Genny Szymanski (Haines, Alaska/Haines) occupies the second alternate spot for the bonus heat after cutting more than 2.5 seconds from her previous season best in the 100 back to swim a 56.34.
On the 3-meter springboard, freshman Felicitas Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) scored a 264.25 to take 15th during prelims and earn a scoring spot for the Wildcats on Friday night.
FRIDAY FINALS SESSION RECAP:
Northwestern began Friday night's finals with an NCAA `B' cut of 3:41.20 in the 400 medley relay, which had been the lone relay the Wildcats had yet to record a `B' standard in this year. Engstrom, Wilson, Cavanaugh and Emily Wong (Nepean, Ontario/St. Joseph's) comprised the squad for NU.
In the 400 IM, King cut another 1.5 seconds off her preliminary time for an even-better `B' cut of 4:18.02 to finish second in the consolation final and 10th overall in the event. King actually trailed her teammate Patterson going into the final 50 yards, but swam the fastest 50 split in the heat with a 28.41 to pass Patterson by .03 of a second. Patterson's `B' time of 4:18.05 also was a more than 1.5 second improvement on her preliminary effort and placed her 11th overall.
Godbe went 4:24.34 in the bonus final of the event, finishing in a dead heat with Michigan's Emily Hanson for 21st overall.
In the 100 fly consolation final, Cavanaugh took 13th overall with a 55.27 and Eschenburg was 16th with a 55.90. Kraus was 22nd overall in the event after a 56.00 in the bonus final.
Shishkoff was unable to maintain her torrid pace from the morning, swimming a `B' time of 1:47.63 in the championship final of the 200 free to place seventh overall. Grigg maintained her 16th-place position in the consolation final, this time swimming a 1:49.44.
Masney flew to a career-best 1:48.48 `B' time to win the bonus final, coming in 17th place overall.
In the 100 breast, Wilson swam another `B' cut, this time a 1:02.66 to finish third in the consolation heat and 11th overall in the event.
After a pair of swimmers, including Engstrom, dropped from the bonus final of the 100 back, Szymanski received a lane and made the most of it, swimming a 56.40 to take third in the heat and 19th overall in the event. Eschenburg took 23rd position with a 56.58 in the bonus race.
On the 3-meter springboard, Lenz jumped up to the 10th spot with a 303.00 to earn seven points for the Wildcats.
Saturday morning's preliminary session begins at 10 a.m. CT. For live results and other information on the 2010 Big Ten Championships, link to Purduesports.com
