- Saturday Prelim Results
- Updated NCAA Qualifier List (through Saturday prelims)(.PDF)
- Updated Top Times (through Saturday prelims)
- Big Ten Championship Central
- Minnesota's Big Ten Championships Page
| Daphne Skelos advanced to the final of the 200 backstroke. |
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.; February 10, 2007 - Twelve more Penn State swimmers advanced to the finals in four different events in the preliminary heats on Saturday morning to set the stage for what should be an exciting finish on Saturday night. Six different swimmers will also swim in the 1650 freestyle heats, which will begin at 5:00 p.m. eastern time tonight.
The Nittany Lions did the best this morning in the 200 breaststroke, as all five swimmers that entered the event advanced to the finals of that event, two more than any other school. Caitlin Meehan, who placed third in the 100 breast last night, led the way with a fifth place finish in the prelims in 2:16.45, a new NCAA ??B?? time for her. Just behind her was Clare Clemens in 2:17.01 and just .02 of a second behind her was Kaitlin O??Brien, last night??s 400 IM champion. Both Clemens and O??Brien swam to new ??B?? cuts as well. All three will swim in the ??A?? final. Abby Hoisington and 100 breast champion Lyndsey Smith will both swim in the ??B?? final as they finished 11th and 12th, respectively.
Penn State also turned in a good performance in one of the Nittany Lions?? strongest events, the 200 butterfly. Kelly Nelson, Kailey Morris and Karie Haglund placed second, third and fourth, respectively, in the prelims and will all swim in the ??A?? finals.
Three Nittany Lions advanced in the 200 backstroke, led by Daphne Skelos who finished seventh in 1:58.86. Both Jessica Barnes and Erin Morris will swim in the ??B?? final as they finished 12th and 13th, respectively, both in NCAA ??B?? times.
| Clare Clemens advanced to her first career Big Ten final in the 200 breaststroke. |
Michelle Myers will swim in the ??B?? final of the 100 freestyle as she placed 14th in :50.92. Molly Crispell just missed out on making the finals as she finished 23rd in :51.81, with the 16th place time being :51.05.
The other event tonight in addition to the 1650 free and the four other events will be the 400 freestyle relay. Penn State will enter tonight trailing first place Indiana by 66 points. The Nittany Lions have more entries than the Hoosiers in the 200 breast (5-3) and more in the ??A?? final of the 200 fly. They also have more higher seeds in the 1650 free, as they have four of the top 17 while Indiana has two in the top 17. Indiana has more entries in the finals of the 100 free (2-1) and more in the ??A?? final of the 200 back and will also score on the platform diving while Penn State does not participate on the platform. Indiana is seeded fourth and Penn State fifth in the 400 free relay. Action gets underway at 8:00 p.m. eastern time as the Nittany Lions looks for their third straight Big Ten championship.