Feb. 20, 2010
Results
2010 Big Ten Championships Saturday Photo Gallery
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Following Saturday's final session of the 2010 Big Ten Championships, No. 24 Northwestern finished in eighth position in the conference.
The Wildcats compiled 238 points, 95 behind seventh-place Penn State and 118 in front of ninth-place Iowa. Indiana won the 2010 Big Ten title with 758 points. Following is a complete recap of Saturday's preliminary and finals sessions.
Senior Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School) was Northwestern's high-point scorer in the meet.
SATURDAY PRELIMINARY SESSION RECAP:
Senior Genny Szymanski (Haines, Alaska/Haines) dropped 3.95 seconds off her best time of the year in the 200 back to qualify ninth overall with an NCAA `B' consideration time of 1:57.26. She will headline the consolation final on Saturday night.
Senior Emily Wong (Nepean, Ontario/St. Joseph's) also qualified ninth overall in her event Saturday, the 100 free. Wong swam a season-best and `B' cut of 49.81, but missed out on the championship final by the slimmest of margins when Brittany Strumbel of Indiana picked up the No. 8 slot with a 49.80.
Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen) made the bonus final with a 50.67 in the 100 free, good for 22nd during the morning heats. Both Taylor Reynolds (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves) and Caitlin Masney (Hong Kong, China/Chinese International School) swam season-best times of 50.71 to tie for 25th, making them the alternates for the bonus final.
Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) put up a season-best and NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time of 2:16.24 in the 200 breast to qualify 13th overall and earn a spot in the consolation final. Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) cut more than two full seconds from her seed in the event with a 2:17.40, but missed the consolation by .11 of a second. She will headline the bonus final on Saturday night.
Rachel Rys (Goleta, Calif./Dos Pueblos), who made the consolation final in the 200 fly as a freshman before battling foot injuries over much of her career, put on a comeback show in the 200 fly Saturday morning. She dropped 4.58 seconds off her seed in the event to swam an NCAA `B' and career-best time of 1:59.78 and earn a spot in the consolation final with a 10th-place finish in the morning.
Rys finished in front of Shishkoff, whose `B' cut of 2:00.03 made her 11th and also gave her a lane in the consolation final of the event. Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) swam a dead-heat with Minnesota's Elizabeth Weitz for 25th while Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) was 27th.
SATURDAY FINALS SESSION RECAP:
Junior Ellen Grigg (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School) began Saturday's finals session with a 16:49.08 in the 1,650 free, good enough for a point in 16th place.
In the consolation final of the 200 back, Szymanski swam a 1:59.97 to also place 16th for the Wildcats.
Wong took second in the consolation final to place 10th overall in the 100 free, turning in a 49.82.
Masney took second in the bonus heat of the 100 free to finish 18th overall in the event with a 50.84. Reynolds also was unable to best her morning time in the race, but a 51.14 still was good for fourth in the bonus final and 20th overall.
In the 200 breast consolation final, Wilson's 2:17.37 placed her 15th overall. In the bonus heat, Patterson put together a 2:18.33 swim to take 21st in the event.
Shishkoff won the consolation final of the 200 fly with an NCAA `B' cut and season-best time of 1:58.92, good for a more-than 1.5 second victory in the heat. Rys ended up fourth in the heat with a 2:01.43, good for 12th overall -- her best-career finish at the Big Ten Championships.
For the third day in a row, Lenz improved her position in the finals. This time, she used a score of 282.40 to move up into fifth place on the 10-meter platform. She nearly got up to fourth place, coming within .5 of a point.
In the final event of the 2010 Big Ten Championships, Masney, Wong, Reynolds and Shishkoff turned in an NCAA `B' time of 3:19.42 in the 400 free relay to place fifth. The time was almost a full 3.5 second improvement on NU's previous best time of the year.