| Kailey Morris swam her career best time by over three seconds in the 500 free on the first day of the NCAA Championships. |
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.; March 8, 2007 ?C The Penn State women??s swimming team began competition on the first day of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday at the University of Minnesota. Although no Nittany Lion swimmers advanced to tonight??s finals of any of the five events that were contested today, two swimmers clocked their best career times in their respective events.
Kailey Morris came in 22nd in the 500 freestyle in a time of 4:46.51, a career best time and over three seconds better than her previous best time. Just behind her in 24th place was Nikki Collins, who came in at 4:47.15. Kelly Nelson swam her career best time of 4:50.96, nearly two seconds better than her previous best, and finished in 45th. Jessica Barnes placed 47th in 4:51.09. Molly Crispell and Claire Hawley rounded out the five Nittany Lion entries in the 500 free by finishing in 50th and 59th place, respectively. Crispell swam a season best time of 4:52.25.
In the 200 IM, Karie Haglund led the way for Penn State with a 35th place finish in 2:01.57. Daphne Skelos was the only other Nittany Lion to swim in the 200 IM and she finished 63rd.
The 400 medley relay team of Skelos, Lyndsey Smith, Haglund and Nelson was a late entry and the Lions finished 22nd in a time of 3:46.79.
The Nittany Lions did not have a 200 free relay team entry or an individual entry into the 50 free.