Official Results from Omega Timing
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- A small six Wildcat contingent at the 2014 AT&T U.S. Winter Nationals made big noise at the four-day meet that wrapped up Saturday, felling one 25-year-old school record among a bevy of strong swims at the annual short course yards national championship meet featuring many elite collegiate and professional competitors.
Sophomore Ellen Stello (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood) had the swim of the season for Northwestern during Saturday morning's preliminary heats of the 200 butterfly. After setting a pool record and flirting with a school record in the race two weeks ago at NU's home TYR Invitational, Stello took down the 25-year-old mark of 1:58.51 set in 1989 by Lori Holmes with an NCAA `B' cut of 1:58.28 to qualify 10th overall and earn a middle lane in the evening `B' final. She was unable to maintain her record pace in the evening, but still had a solid 1:59.04 to place 13th overall.
Stello also scored individual points for Northwestern in the 400 IM when she swam a career-best `B' cut of 4:15.12 on Friday to place 14th overall. The swim placed Stello third on NU's all-time top times list in the event.
Sophomore Lauren Abruzzo (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) also a strong meet with top-30 finishes in each of her three events. Abruzzo earned points for Northwestern with a season-best and NCAA `B' time of 16:22.17 in the mile on Saturday to place 14th in the event. She also earned a second swim in Friday's 400 IM, twice lowering her career-best time with NCAA `B' efforts. She finished 23rd overall with an evening 4:17.51 that ranks her sixth on NU's all-time top times in the event.
Sophomore Lacey Locke (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) nearly notched a school record of her own Friday in the 100 back. As a prelude, she led off NU's 4x100 medley relay with a career-best 54.27 100 back split on Thursday evening. Then, after qualifying for the `C' final in the individual event Friday, she swam an NCAA `B' cut of 54.04 to finish 18th overall in the event and come just three one-hundredths of a second shy of the school mark of 54.01 set in 2011 by Liza Engstrom.
Junior Julianne Kurke (Atlanta, Ga./Parkview) competed in both breaststroke events for Northwestern and swam the breaststroke legs on both medley relays. Freshman Anna Keane (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale) swam two collegiate-best times in the sprint free events for the Wildcats, including cutting a full half-second off her best 50 free time with a 23.72.
Junior Ellen Anderson (Montgomery Village, Ala./Gaithersburg) swam the 500 free and 1,650 freestyle races in Greensboro, nearly matching her career-best swim in the mile with a 26th-place effort.
The quartet of Locke, Kurke, Stello and Keane all competed together in the 4x50 and 4x100 medley relays, earning points in the team standings for Northwestern via a top-16 finish in each event.
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