Megan Purdy earned a second swim in the 500 free by lowering her career-best time in the event nearly five full seconds.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A pair of Wildcats earned second swims during preliminary heats in three events Thursday morning at the Big Ten Championships while many others recorded significant cuts to their career-best times.
Day Two action at the 2015 Big Ten Championships will continue with diving trials in the afternoon before finals start at 5:30 p.m. CT.
Freshman Mary Warren (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) grabbed a scoring lane in Thursday night's 50 freestyle consolation final with an NCAA `B' cut time of 22.86 in the prelims. That time was good for a dead-heat 13th place finish after the morning action. Warren's swim -- the first of her career at the Big Ten Championships -- lowered her previous best in the ultimate sprint race by one one-hundredth of a second.
Junior Julia Pratt (Vincennes, Ind./Vincennes Rivet) blew away her career-best time in the 50 free with a 23.14 in the prelims, resulting in a .37 of a second cut from her previous college-best swim. Pratt ended up just outside the bonus final heat in 28th place.
Sophomore Annika Winsnes (Singapore/United World College), whose specialty is the 100 free, cut her career-best in the 50 down to 23.20 to place 33rd overall, while freshman Anna Keane (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale) dropped her best in the event nearly a full half second in placing 39th with a 23.24.
Thursday morning began with the 500 freestyle, and sophomore Megan Purdy (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City) won a second swim in the bonus final with a 23rd-place swim of 4:48.40 that dropped her career-best in the event by nearly five full seconds. Of NU's other entries in the event, freshman Sydney Modeas (East Amherst, N.Y./Clarence) dropped the second-most time from her previous best with a 34th-place 4:50.78. Her seed time entering Thursday morning was 4:54.54.
Sophomores Lacey Locke (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Melissa Postoll (Acworth, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain) were Northwestern's top finishers in the 200 IM, placing 31st and 32nd, respectively. Postoll had a career-best time of 2:02.37.
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