Feb. 23, 2002
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Led by senior Merritt Adams' (Norcross, Ga./The Lovett School) top performance in the 200 butterfly, the Northwestern swimming and diving squad finished in fourth-place at the Big Ten Championships with 376.50 points. Penn State won the title for the first time in school history with 594.50 points.
Adams won the 200 butterfly for the second time in her career with a time of 1:59.11. Even more amazing was her morning prelim swim, which she swam the second-fastest time in school history (1:58.73). She now joins Carmen Cosgrove (Perth, Western Australia/Nebraska) and Rachel Johnson (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) as automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Championships.
NU had a total of five swimmers competing in the evening finals of the 200 fly. Johnson placed fifth, Paige Nath (Wichita, Kan./Trinity Academy) was 7th, Cosgrove was 8th and Christy Olin (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard) took 12th. NU's jump from sixth-place to fourth was largely in part to the 62 points earned by the five women in the 200 fly.
Reigning Big Ten Champion Vicky West (Redlands, Calif./Redlands) placed fifth in the 1,650 freestyle (16:36.01) while teammate Stephanie Cranston (St. Louis, Mo./Mary Institute CD) finished in ninth (16:41.09).
Katie Simmons (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) posted a career-best time of 2:15.12 in the 200 breaststroke en route to a fifth-place showing. Brielle Bovee (Winter Park, Fla./Lake Highland Prep) also scored in the event with a 15th-place finish (2:20.37).
Other final results include Susie Sample's (LaGrange, Ill./Lyons Township) 6th-place finish in the 200 backstroke (1:59.72) and Erin Swenson's (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) 12th-place honor in the 100 freestyle (51:42).
The 400 freestyle squad of Swenson, Lauren Moore (Wilton, Conn./Wilton), Adams, and Cosgrove rounded out the championships with a 7th-place finish. Their time of 3:25.07 was a team-best for the season.