Nov. 19, 2011
Results
EVANSTON, Ill. -- A pair of individual NCAA `B' provisional qualifying times and one in the 800 free relay highlighted Northwestern's second day of action Saturday at the eight-team 2011 TYR Invitational at the Norris Aquatics Center, where the Wildcats hold a healthy lead on the field.
Junior Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) and senior Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) both picked up NCAA `B' cuts, with King's coming in a 400 IM victory while Wilson registered hers during a stellar 100 breast race.
Northwestern extended its lead over the field Saturday, now owning a total of 567 points. Illinois moved into second place with 445 points in a tight battle against Iowa State, which has 407 points. Cleveland State is fourth with 350, Nebraska is fifth after tallying 302 points, Missouri State in is sixth place with 277, UIC is seventh with 161 and Kenyon is close behind in eighth with 140 points.
Preliminary portion of Saturday's action:
Northwestern earned one-half of the championship final lanes in the 400 IM as part of a strong start to Saturday's action. King led the Wildcat crew with a second-place time of 4:25.49, followed by Jacquie Godbe (Rapid City, S.D./Stevens) in third with a 4:26.74, Becca Soderholm (Madison, Wis./Madison East) in fifth at 4:27.63 and Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) in sixth with a 4:27.71.
Megan Goss (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) and Meaghan Fenn (New Rochelle, N.Y./The Ursuline School) both won spots in the consolation finals of the 400 IM for NU. Goss finished 11th in the morning in 4:31.09 while Fenn was 13th overall with a 4:32.04. Beth Loe (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) earned the right to a second swim in the bonus final by taking 22nd overall with a 4:37.37.
In the 100 butterfly, senior Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) won a championship final berth with a seventh-place prelim time of 56.73 while Marybeth Hall (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) will swim in the consolation final after a 14th-place 57.55. Senior Sheila O'Neill (Dunwoody, Ga./Marist School) picked up a second-swim opportunity in the bonus final with a 20th-place overall time of 58.31.
Jackie Powell (Madison, Wis./James Madison Memorial) won the 200 free preliminary session with a time of 1:49.85 while teammate Erin Sosdian (The Woodlands, Texas/Woodlands College Park) ended up third in 1:50.64. One event after qualifying for a second swim in the 100 fly, O'Neill is the top seed in the 200 free consolation final following a ninth-place 1:52.84. Freshman Valerie Nubbe (Huntsville, Ala./Huntsville) and Godbe also qualified for the consolation final of the event while Shelby Johnson (Wayzata, Minn./Wayzata) is entered in the 200 free bonus final for NU.
Wilson qualified for the eighth and final spot in the 100 breast championship final with a 1:04.92, .02 of a second in front of the ninth-place finisher. Katie McCullough (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) took 11th with a 1:05.92 and Patterson swam a 1:06.11 to finish 13th; both earned consolation finals berths for the Wildcats.
Powell was Northwestern's top qualifier in the 100 back, swimming a 58.11 to place 13th and pick up a consolation final berth in the event. Two Wildcats narrowly missed the consolation heat; Cavanaugh took 17th overall in 58.38 and Sosdian swam a 58.41 to finish 18th overall, just .05 of a second away from 16th. Madeleine Klichowski (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) picked up the final second-swim spot with a 24th-place overall time of 59.43.
Finals portion of Saturday's action:
Northwestern's 200 medley relay team of Cavanaugh, Wilson, Hall and Tori Larsen (Elmhurst, Ill./York Community) placed second in the Saturday evening session-opening event with a season-best 1:43.41.
King won a very exciting race to the finish in the 400 IM championship final, earning Northwestern's first NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time of the year in the process. King and Joanna Olson of Cleveland State were neck-and-neck for the entire 400 yards Saturday night, with King just hanging on against a creeping Olson at the wall for a season-best and `B' cut of 4:19.43.
Soderholm placed third in 4:21.39 while Patterson claimed fourth in 4:23.67. Goss then won the consolation final, sprinting ahead of the field for a 4.0 second margin of victory over teammate Fenn with a time of 4:24.58. Loe ended up fifth in the 400 IM bonus final and 21st overall after a 4:35.74.
Cavanaugh placed second overall in the 100 fly with a season-best 55.60 while Hall was 13th overall after the consolation final.
In a three-way race featuring two Wildcats for the title in the 200 free, Powell led a 1-2 finish alongside Sosdian. With Illinois' Courtney Pope swimming the fastest final 50 yards in the pool, Powell hung on for a 1:49.21 while Sosdian's 1:49.57 was good for second in front of Pope's 1:49.78.
O'Neill swam a season-best 200 free time of 1:51.88 to take second in the consolation final and 10th overall in the event. Nubbe's consolation heat time of 1:53.69 was good for 14th-place overall. In the bonus final, Johnson swam a 1:54.29 to occupy 20th position.
In the 100 breast, Wilson went off to beat her best head-to-head competition of the meet in Cleveland State's Alice Sommerville in the championship final. Sommerville held a .59 of a second lead at the 50-yard mark, but Wilson decided she was not going to lose this race, turning on the after-burners to swim a 32.79 final split and overtake Sommerville for the title, 1:02.42 to 1:02.68. Both times are NCAA `B' provisional qualifying standards.
In the consolation final of the 100 breast, Patterson's 1:05.33 was good for 11th overall while McCullough's 1:05.96 netted her a 13th-place finish.
Sosdian and Cavanaugh took 1-2 in the consolation final of the 100 back to lead Northwestern in that event. Sosdian swam a 56.88 while Cavanaugh turned in a time of 57.77. Freshman Klichowski turned it on in the second half of the bonus final to win by .10 of a second in a season-best 58.79.
In diving action Saturday, Northwestern's Lenz sisters went 1-2 on the springboards for the second-straight day. This time on the 1-meter board, junior Felicitas Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) scored a season-best 318.85 points to win in a phenomenal Invitational performance. Battling illness all day, sophomore Cosima Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) still fought to a second-place finish with 271.35 points. NU sophomore Mary Kate Campbell (Burr Ridge, Ill./Fenwick) also made the championship final, finishing eighth with a 242.70 score.
In the final event of the night, Northwestern's 800 free relay team of King, Sosdian, O'Neill and Powell added a third NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time to the Wildcats' haul and the first of the season in a relay with a 7:22.44 winning effort. NU beat the second-place team to the wall by 8.3 seconds.
The final day of the three-day TYR Invitational begins tomorrow morning, Sunday, Nov. 20, with a 9 a.m. CT preliminary session followed by a 3 p.m. CT finals session. Live results are available at fitrec.northwestern.edu.
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