Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Big Ten Championships
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Wildcats Sprint To Finish on B1G Championships Day Two
2/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
RESULTS
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Flexing its sprint freestyle prowess, Northwestern turned in another stellar relay performance and got individual points in the 50 free Thursday on the second day of the Big Ten Championships hosted by Ohio State at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
The Wildcats finished among the top half of the conference in the 200 free relay Thursday evening, nearly taking down another school record. The points helped put Northwestern in ninth place among the 13-team Big Ten field.
The Wildcats are competing without the benefit of divers, all of whom suffered season-ending injuries or illness prior to the start of the winter dual-meet season.
Preliminary Portion of Thursday's Action:
A pair of Wildcats earned second swims during preliminary heats in three events Thursday morning at the Big Ten Championships while many others recorded significant cuts to their career-best times.
Freshman Mary Warren (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) grabbed a scoring lane in Thursday night's 50 freestyle consolation final with an NCAA `B' cut time of 22.86 in the prelims. That time was good for a dead-heat 13th place finish after the morning action. Warren's swim -- the first of her career at the Big Ten Championships -- lowered her previous best in the ultimate sprint race by one one-hundredth of a second.
Junior Julia Pratt (Vincennes, Ind./Vincennes Rivet) blew away her career-best time in the 50 free with a 23.14 in the prelims, resulting in a .37 of a second cut from her previous college-best swim. Pratt ended up just outside the bonus final heat in 28th place.
Sophomore Annika Winsnes (Singapore/United World College), whose specialty is the 100 free, cut her career-best in the 50 down to 23.20 to place 33rd overall, while freshman Anna Keane (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale) dropped her best in the event nearly a full half second in placing 39th with a 23.24.
Thursday morning began with the 500 freestyle, and sophomore Megan Purdy (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City) won a second swim in the bonus final with a 23rd-place swim of 4:48.40 that dropped her career-best in the event by nearly five full seconds. Of NU's other entries in the event, freshman Sydney Modeas (East Amherst, N.Y./Clarence) dropped the second-most time from her previous best with a 34th-place 4:50.78. Her seed time entering Thursday morning was 4:54.54.
Sophomores Lacey Locke (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Melissa Postoll (Acworth, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain) were Northwestern's top finishers in the 200 IM, placing 31st and 32nd, respectively. Postoll had a career-best time of 2:02.37.
Finals Portion of Thursday's Action:
One night after Northwestern opened the Big Ten Championships with a school record in the 200 medley relay, the Wildcats started Thursday evening with the second-fastest 200 free relay time in school history.
Warren led off with a 22.72 50 free split to further lower her collegiate best in the event after a morning 22.86 in the 50 free preliminary heats. Pratt, Keane and Winsnes rounded out the relay, which touched in an NCAA `B' cut time of 1:30.11 to place sixth overall. NU was just .14 of a second away from the school record, set in 2009.
In the 500 free bonus final, Purdy couldn't quite match her career-best effort of the morning, finishing 23rd overall with a 4:50.99.
Warren ended the evening on a strong note for Northwestern, moving up after qualifying 13th overall for the consolation final of the 50 freestyle by swimming a 22.80 and garnering 11th place. She scored six points for the Wildcats with her swim.
