Aug. 2, 2007
Indianapolis, Ind.; August 2, 2007 - Six individuals and one relay team picked up points by finishing in the top 16 of their respective events as the Penn State contingent of swimmers continued to impress on the second night of the ConocoPhillips U.S. National Meet on Wednesday evening at the IUPUI Natatorium.
Leading the way for the Nittany Lions was Pat Schirk in the men's 200-meter backstroke, as he placed fifth in the finals after finishing with the third-best time in the morning prelims, as well as Kaitlin O'Brien, who came in sixth in the finals of the 400-meter individual medley, her second top eight finish of the meet after she finished seventh in the finals of the 200-meter breaststroke on Tuesday night. With the strong performances, both Schrik and O'Brien are under consideration to be members of a U.S. National team that will travel to and compete in an international meet in Japan later this month.
Schirk turned in the most impressive performance by a Nittany Lion swimmer on Wednesday. In the morning prelims, he swam his best time of 1:58.19 in the 200 back, less than two seconds behind the fastest time of the prelims, which was turned in by Michael Phelps and ahead of the prelim time of world record holder Ryan Lochte. In the finals, Schirk finished fifth behind only a quartet of world-class swimmers, including Phelps, who finished first in a U.S. Open-record time, and Lochte, who just beat out Schirk by just .75 of a second.
O'Brien continued her strong meet by placing sixth in the 400 IM, her strongest event. The school-record holder and a two-time Big Ten champion in the 400 IM, O'Brien finished sixth in both the prelims and the finals, swimming a 4:46.10 in the prelims and a 4:47.07 in the finals.
Kaitlin O'Brien picked up her second top eight finish of the U.S. National Meet by placing sixth in the 400 IM finals. |
Also picking up points by placing in the top 16 of their respective events for Penn State were Daphne Skelos and Michelle Myers in the 200-meter backstroke. Myers placed 14th in 2:15.35 after finishing 12th in the prelims while Skelos was just behind her in 15th place in 2:15.75. In addition to O'Brien in the 400 IM, Kailey Morris also picked up points by placing 12th in the finals in 4:51.36 after finishing 11th in the prelims at 4:50.03. Karie Haglund swam in the `C', non-scoring finals and placed 20th after also placing 20th in the prelims.
The men's 400-meter freestyle relay team of Sean Biedermann, Sean Swanepoel, Rob Felty and Vincent Reydams finished 16th in 3:26.60 to place in the final scoring slot of that event.
Also, the women's 400-meter freestyle relay team of Molly Crispell, Kelly Nelson, Jessican Barnes and Michelle Myers finished just out of the scoring, coming in 19th. Morris swam in that same event on another relay team with three other non-Penn State members, including U.S. National Team member Katie Hoff, but that team finished just .05 of a second out of 16th place and in 17th.
Michelle Myers finished 14th in the finals of 200-meter backstroke. |
Complete results as well as free nightly webcast of the finals are available on the U.S. Swimming website, www.usaswimming.org.
Penn State swimmers competing on Wednesday (August 1) at U.S. Nationals
Men's 100-meter freestyleSean Swanepoel (Prelims: :51.18 - 37th)Sean Biedermann (Prelims: :51.65 - T57th)Vincent Reydams (Prelims: :52.71 - 96th)
Men's 200-meter backstrokePat Schirk (Prelims: 1:58.19 - 3rd; Finals: 1:59.86 - 5th)Dan Fimbianti (Prelims: 2:05.14 - T31st)
Women's 200-meter backstrokeDaphne Skelos (Prelims: 2:14.21 - 9th; Finals: 2:15.75 - 15th)Michelle Myers (Prelims: 2:14.68 - 12th; Finals: 2:15.35 - 14th)Jessica Barnes (Prelims: 2:19.25 - 49th)
Women's 400-meter IMKaitlin O'Brien (Prelims: 4:46.10 - 6th; Finals: 4:47.07 - 6th)Kailey Morris (Prelims: 4:50.03- 11th; Finals: 4:51.36 - 12th)Karie Haglund (Prelims: 4:54.98 - 20th; Finals: 4:53.34 - 20th)Kelly Nelson (Prelims: 4:59.36 - 44th)
Men's 4x100-meter (400-meter) freestyle relaySean Biedermann, Sean Swanepoel, Rob Felty, Vincent Reydams (3:26.60 - 16th)
Women's 4x100-meter (400-meter) freestyle relayMolly Crispell, Kelly Nelson, Jessica Barnes, Michelle Myers (3:51.70 - 19th)