Feb. 19, 2011
Official 2011 Big Ten Championships Website
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- On the final day of the 2011 Big Ten Championships Saturday, Northwestern jumped one spot in the team standings to finish in eighth place overall.
The Wildcats concluded the meet with 178 points, 27 in front of ninth-place Iowa. The `Cats had trailed the Hawkeyes following each of the first two full days at the Championships. Indiana won the Big Ten team title this year.
Saturday Preliminary Session Recap:
Northwestern placed one swimmer in a championship final and three more in consolation finals after Saturday morning preliminary action at the Big Ten Championships, with those student-athletes taking aim at several more school records after two fell on Friday.
One day after twice breaking the school record in the 100 back on Friday, senior Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen) began an assault on the 200 back mark Saturday morning. She crushed her career-best in the event by 1.4 seconds, swimming an NCAA `B' provisional qualifying standard of 1:57.10 to qualify 13th overall and earn a spot in the consolation final.
Another notable swim in the 200 back Saturday came from Meaghan Fenn (New Rochelle, N.Y./The Ursuline School), who cut 3.87 seconds off her seed time to turn in a career-best 2:01.76 and finish 30th overall.
Freshman Jackie Powell (Madison, Wis./James Madison Memorial) picked up a consolation final berth with a 15th place finish in the 100 free, swimming a `B' cut of 50.06. Sophomore Taylor Reynolds (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves) will swim in the bonus final after qualifying 20th overall with a career-best 50.43.
Northwestern put a swimmer in each of the two scoring heats of the 200 breast. Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) qualified for her second championship final of the meet with a career-best and NCAA `B' cut of 2:13.52, good for eighth overall after the morning session. One day after breaking the school record in the 400 IM, junior Hannah Points (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) picked up the 16th and final scoring spot in the event with a career-best 2:15.48, a more-than four second drop from her seed time.
Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) also earned a second swim in the 200 breast bonus final after qualifying 23rd overall with a 2:18.02.
Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) and Points qualified for the bonus final of the 200 fly, with King swimming a career-best 2:01.20 to take 18th overall and Points swimming a 2:01.46 to come in 20th.
Several Wildcats finished just outside of an opportunity for a second swim, most notably freshman Becca Soderholm (Madison, Wis./Madison East), who cut nearly two full seconds off her seed time to swim a 27th place 2:02.25. Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) placed 28th in 2:02.59 and Alex Kraus (Birmingham, Ala./Vestavia Hills) took 32nd in 2:03.48.
During platform diving prelims, freshman Cosima Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) earned the top spot in the consolation final with a 286.15 during the early afternoon competition.
Saturday Finals Session Recap:
Prior to the start of Saturday's finals session, the Wildcat milers swam their heats of the 1,650 freestyle. Beth Loe (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) smashed her career-best in the event to earn a pair of points with a 16:43.39, good for 15th place overall. Senior Ellen Grigg (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School) came within .16 of a second of scoring, turning in a 17th-place effort of 16:44.60.
Engstrom was unable to recapture the magic of her record-breaking Friday, swimming a 1:59.43 in the consolation final of the 200 back to take 16th place overall in the event.
In the 100 free, Powell likewise ended up 16th overall after an evening time of 50.48, picking up a point for the `Cats. Reynolds' 50.55 in the bonus final was good for 19th position.
Wilson further lowered her career-best time in the 200 breast with a `B' cut of 2:13.14 in the championship final, placing her eighth overall. She now is the second-fastest swimmer in the event in Northwestern history. In the consolation final, Points jumped all the way up from 16th following the prelim session to 11th with a career-best and `B' time of 2:14.30. Patterson's 2:19.28 in the bonus heat placed her 24th overall.
One event later, Points cut a full second off her 200 fly prelim time to record yet another career-best effort, this time coming in 18th overall following a `B' cut of 2:00.31 in the bonus heat. King was right behind her in 20th after a career-best 2:00.72.
In the platform diving consolation final, Lenz improved upon her consolation total by 1.60 points, but dropped from ninth to 13th in a very packed field that saw 10th through 14th separated by just 8.3 points.
In the final event of the meet, Northwestern's team of Powell, Marybeth Hall (Brighton, Mich./Brighton), Engstrom and Reynolds swam a season-best and NCAA `B' time of 3:21.65 to place eighth.
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