Individuals Race Well Friday at Big Ten Championships

Friday, February 20

Columbus, Ohio

All Day

Northwestern

Big Ten Championships

Individuals Race Well Friday at Big Ten Championships

2/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving

RESULTS

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- All three Wildcats in scoring finals at the 2015 Big Ten Championships Friday night finished in the top half of their heats at the McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion, giving Northwestern a good showing entering the meet's home stretch.

Northwestern remains in ninth place following three days of competition, leading Nebraska, Rutgers, Illinois and Michigan State.

The 2015 Big Ten Championships conclude tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 21, with prelims at 10 a.m. CT and finals at 5:30 p.m. CT.

Preliminary Portion of Friday's Action:

Three Wildcats advanced to scoring finals during Friday morning's preliminary session at the 2015 Big Ten Championships hosted by Ohio State at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.

Sophomore Annika Winsnes (Singapore/United World College) had the swim of the morning for Northwestern in the 200 freestyle, further lowering the career-best time she had in the distance to lead off the Wildcats' 800 free relay Wednesday night. Winsnes went out hard with the sixth-fastest 50 free split among the field. Her strategy nearly paid the greatest of dividends, but in the end she was overcome for the eighth and final spot in the championship final by four one-hundredths of a second.

Still, Winsnes touched in 1:46.53, which is eight one-hundredths faster than her relay effort on Wednesday night. The NCAA `B' cut still ranks her fourth in school history. She will headline the consolation final on Friday evening.

Freshman Anna Keane (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale) dropped more than two seconds from her seed time in the event to swim a 1:49.00 and place 29th overall in the 200 free. Ellen Anderson (Montgomery Village, Md./Gaithersburg) (38th), dropped .99 of a second with a 1:49.88 while sophomore Megan Purdy (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City) (43rd) cut 2.10 seconds to swim a career-best 1:50.22.

In the first event Friday morning, sophomore Ellen Stello (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood) qualified for the consolation final of the 400 IM to give Northwestern an immediate scoring lane in the day's finals. Stello swam an NCAA `B' cut of 4:16.06 that actually was a shade slower than her seed time, but still put her 14th overall with a shot at points Friday night.

Two more Wildcats, sophomore Lauren Abruzzo (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) and freshman Sydney Modeas (East Amherst, N.Y./Clarence) narrowly missed out on qualifying for a second swim in the 400 IM bonus final. Abruzzo was 26th overall with a 4:20.86 while Modeas was 27th in 4:21.29.

The two other Wildcats in the event both cut decent time from their seeds entering the meet. Junior Emily Launer (DeKalb, Ill./Rosary) dropped 2.68 seconds to finish 32nd overall with a 4:22.99 while sophomore Melissa Postoll (Acworth, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain) cut 1.78 seconds to place 34th in 4:24.07.

Two freshmen have been Northwestern's top sprint butterfly swimmers all year, and they placed just outside of the bonus final in Friday's 100 fly prelims at their first Big Ten Championships. Aja Malone (Acworth, Ga./Allatoona) placed 27th overall in 55.06 while Maddy Sims (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove) came in 29th at 55.14. Both of those times represented career bests for the duo.

In the 100 breast, junior Julianne Kurke (Atlanta, Ga./Parkview) finished the morning as the first alternate with a 1:02.94. Sophomore Katie Branch (Phoenix, Ariz./Horizon Honors) also narrowly missed out on an automatic second-swim when she touched in 27th place with a career-best 1:03.03 that represented a .85 of a second cut from her previous top college swim in the race. That time also placed her sixth on NU's all-time top times list in the event.

Sophomore Lacey Locke (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) missed out on matching her career-best time in the 100 back that she achieved at the AT&T U.S. Winter Nationals in December, but she did enough to qualify 16th overall in the event and earn the final scoring lane in Friday's consolation final. Locke swam a 54.56.

Sophomore Jackie Doyle (Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley) was NU's next best finisher in the 100 back with a career-best 56.00 to place 36th overall.

Finals Portion of Friday's Action:

Friday opened with the 400 medley relay, where Locke, Kurke, Sims and Winsnes finished in 3:39.62 to place 10th overall. That time is the fifth fastest in NU history.

Stello continued with an excellent 400 IM Friday night. Competing in the consolation final, she swam an NCAA `B' cut of 4:13.44 that was her career best by 1.68 seconds and also the second-fastest time in Northwestern history. She placed 12th in the conference with the swim to earn five points for NU.

Abruzzo was able to get a 400 IM bonus final lane for the night due to scratches, and she swam a 4:21.41 to place 24th overall.

In the 200 free consolation final, Winsnes nearly matched her outstanding preliminary swim when she touched in 1:46.77. That time placed her second in the heat and 10th overall behind a Purdue swimmer who put together the fifth-fastest 200 free of the night in any of the finals heats.

After a number of scratches, Keane was able to get into the 200 free bonus final. She took advantage by dropping another half second from her time to swim a 1:48.51 and place 21st overall. Later, Kurke moved into the bonus final of the 100 breast and swam a 1:03.44 to take 23rd place in that event.

Locke concluded Northwestern's Friday night with a good showing in the 100 back consolation final. Her time of 54.31 was .25 of a second faster than her prelim effort and moved her up from a 16th place qualification after the morning to an 11th-place overall finish.