Feb. 19, 2008
Women's Big Ten Championship Notes/Guide (pdf)
Coach Dorenkott's Big Ten women's preview podcast (mp3)
University Park, Pa. - After wrapping up its second straight undefeated dual meet season last month, the Penn State women's swimming and diving team will head for another venue this weekend in which it has had multiple success at this decade, the women's Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships. Penn State, which has won three Big Ten championships in the last six seasons, is also the only program in the Big Ten that has finished in the top three at Big Ten's in each of the last seven seasons.
This year, Penn State once again has a team capable of either winning or at least finishing in the top three once again. A total of five individuals have already qualified for NCAA Championships heading into Big Ten's, four more than last year at this stage. Kelly Nelson, Michelle Myers, Caitlin Meehan, Abby Hoisington and Kaitlin O'Brien have already swam NCAA 'A' times during the season and those five swimmers have a total of eight NCAA 'A' times. As a team, Penn State also has 32 NCAA 'B' provisional qualifying times that they will be looking to cut down or make into 'A' times during these championships.
Caitlin Meehan has qualified for her first NCAA Championships. |
Nine other individuals have swam to those 32 'B' times while two other individuals that have not set any individual 'B' times own 'B' times as a part of relay teams.
Another impressive feat by the Nittany Lions this year is that 11 different individuals have swam their lifetime best times this year during the regular season. Eight of those individuals have swam lifetime bests this year in more than one event. The most impressive of this group is no doubt Kaitlin O'Brien, who owns three NCAA 'B' times, all lifetime bests in the 200 breast, 200 IM and 400 IM. Her new career best in the 400 IM earlier this year broke the three-year-old Big Ten record in that event and she also broke the school record in the 200 IM.
The Big Ten Championships will be hosted by Ohio State at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. There will be three morning preliminary sessions and three nightly finals sessions from Thursday through Saturday. Live results will be available at Ohio State's website. Check back to gopsusports.com after each session to view updated top times lists for Penn State as well as an updated NCAA qualifiers list.
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