Northwestern In Lead Following TYR Invitational Opening Day

11/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Nov. 18, 2011

Results

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Hosting its biggest field in recent memory, Northwestern is in the lead at its own eight-team TYR Invitational following the first day of action Friday the Norris Aquatics Center.

The Wildcats have compiled 267 points to pace the field while Illinois is second with 216 points. Iowa State currently is third with a total of 204 points, Cleveland State is fourth with 171, Nebraska is fifth with 133, Missouri State is sixth with 130, UIC is seventh with 69 and Kenyon is in eighth with 57 points.

Preliminary portion of Friday's action:

In the first event Friday morning, senior Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) earned a spot in the championship final of the 50 breast with a fifth-place qualifying time of 29.85. Katie McCullough (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) took 10th overall and Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) was 13th to pick up point-scoring spots in the consolation heat while freshman Valerie Nubbe (Huntsville, Ala./Huntsville) finished the morning as the second alternate for the 50 breast bonus final.

Junior Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) swam a season-best 4:59.07 to qualify fourth overall for the championship heat of the 500 free. Sophomore Megan Goss (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) joined her in the `A' final with a season-best 5:01.00 that placed her sixth overall after the morning competition.

Sophomore Jackie Powell (Madison, Wis./James Madison Memorial) swam a 5:03.13 to place 14th overall and pick up a consolation final berth while both Erin Sosdian (The Woodlands, Texas./Woodlands College Park) and Lauren Clifford (Pollock Pines, Calif./El Dorado) earned the right to swim again in the bonus final. Shelby Johnson (Wayzata, Minn./Wayzata) is the first alternate for the 500 free bonus heat after Friday morning.

Patterson took second overall in the 200 IM with a season-best 2:06.25 to qualify as the lone Wildcat in the championship heat. Senior Jacquie Godbe (Rapid City, S.D./Stevens) was a mere .09 of a second away from the `A' final, turning in a season-best 2:06.99 to place 10th overall and earn a swim in the consolation heat. She will be joined in the `B' race by Clifford, who cut about 3.5 seconds off her season-best with a 15th-place 2:07.88.

Becca Soderholm (Madison, Wis./Madison East) finished 18th in the 200 IM preliminary heats with a 2:08.07 and Meaghan Fenn (New Rochelle, N.Y./The Ursuline School) was 22nd in 2:08.95 to give NU two swimmers with bonus final qualifications.

Freshman Tori Larsen (Elmhurst, Ill./York Community) swam a 23.38 in the 50 free to grab the eighth and final championship heat lane, followed by Marybeth Hall's (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) ninth-place 23.86 that gives her the top seed in the consolation final. McCullough also is in the consolation final after a 10th-place 23.92 alongside Powell, whose 23.99 was good for 15th place overall.

Both Johnson (24.15) and Valerie Nubbe (Huntsville, Ala./Huntsville) (24.18) will swim in the 50 free bonus final.

Finals portion of Friday's action:

Friday night opened with the 200 free relay, which was a raucous race from start to finish. Cleveland State held a slight edge after the opening 50 yards with Northwestern in a close fifth following a solid Marybeth Hall leadoff. Larsen entered the pool for the second leg and charged to a 22.90 split to vault the Wildcats to the front of the pack. McCullough built on that lead with a 23.04 third leg before Powell held off a Cleveland State anchor charge to give NU a season-best 1:33.06 and the win in the event.

Wilson finished second in the championship final of the 50 breast with a 28.76, which was more than a full second quicker than her preliminary time. The winner of the event was Cleveland State's Alice Sommerville, who was the 2010 TYR Invitational high point scorer.

In the 50 breast consolation final, McCullough took 10th overall with a 29.66, and Patterson was 11th overall in 29.74.

In the championship final of the 500 free, King pulled away early, swimming all sub-30.00 splits save for the second-to-last which was a 30.01 en route to a season-best and event winning 4:52.68. She touched 2.92 seconds ahead of the second-place swimmer. Goss also had a season-best time, finishing fourth in 4:58.35.

Powell captured victory in the consolation final by 2.96 seconds with a season-best 4:55.87, then in the bonus final of the 500 free, Clifford jumped way out in front before winning with a 4:57.66 -- nearly six full seconds before the second-place finisher touched the wall. Johnson was in second for much of the bonus heat before a Missouri State swimmer tracked her down at the end to out-touch her for second in the heat and 18th in the event by .35 of a second. Johnson finished 19th with a time of 5:03.78.

Patterson took second overall in the 200 IM championship final with a 2:04.15, remaining in her same post-preliminary seeding while lowering her time by 2.10 seconds. In the consolation final, Godbe won by a comfortable margin in a season-best time of 2:04.72 while Clifford was third with a 2:06.83 after Iowa State's Kristy Kunkel chased her down at the wire to out-touch her by .09 of a second.

Missouri State's Anna Ahlin won the 200 IM bonus final in a photo finish thanks to strong fly and backstroke legs. Soderholm was second (18th overall) in 2:06.22 -- just .02 of a second behind Ahlin -- after closing the gap with a 28.40 freestyle leg. Fenn was just .10 of a second behind Soderholm to take third (19th overall) with a 2:06.32.

Iowa State won the 50 free by .06 of a second over second-place Larsen, who turned in a season-best 23.31. In the consolation final, Powell (23.66) was second, Hall (23.78) took third and McCullough (23.86) was fifth. Nubbe placed 21st overall with a 24.18 and Johnson swam a 24.32 to place 22nd in bonus final competition.

In diving action on the first day, Northwestern earned a clean sweep of the top three spots on the 3-meter springboard. Felicitas Lenz (Altadena Calif./Polytechnic School) was the lone competitor over 300 with a winning total of 316.40 followed by Cosima Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) in second with a score of 295.20. Lenz was sixth following the preliminary portion of the competition. Mary Kate Campbell (Burr Ridge, Ill./Fenwick) rounded out the NU triumvirate with a third-place tally of 259.40.

The Northwestern team of Fenn, Wilson, Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) and Powell closed out Friday night's action with a second-place finish in the 400 medley relay, swimming a season-best 3:45.47.

The second day of the three-day TYR Invitational begins tomorrow morning, Saturday, Nov. 9, with a 9 a.m. CT preliminary session followed by a 5 p.m. CT finals session. Sunday's schedule calls for a 9 a.m. preliminary session with finals starting at 3 p.m. CT. Live results are available at fitrec.northwestern.edu.

••••••

Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook! and subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter to receive the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!