Feb. 19, 2011
Results
Official 2011 Big Ten Championships Website
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- 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. The school record is 1:56.13, set by Genny Szymanski in 2009.
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.
Saturday's finals session begins at 5:30 p.m. CT. Prior to that, preliminary competition in the platform diving event as well as early heats in the 1,650 free will be held. Live results and further information are available at the Official 2011 Big Ten Championships website.
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