March 3, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 3, 2013-- It was one last chance for a pair of Nittany Lions women's swimmers to claim automatic qualifying marks into the NCAA Championships when freshman Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.) and junior Gabi Shishkoff (Franklin, Mass.) took to the lanes at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the campus of Ohio State University on Sunday.
The NCAA Last Chance races take place across the nation with competitors looking to pick up NCAA A Cut, or automatic qualifying times, into the NCAA Championships in three weeks. Rowe and Shishkoff competed in the 200 butterfly, an event that they both own NCAA B Cut times in, which are provisional qualifying marks for the championships.
Rowe boasted the fastest time of the day when she touched in a provisional qualifying time of 1:58.33 in the prelims before swimming 1:58.99 in the finals to post the win. Both times were just short of the automatic qualifying mark, but give her four NCAA B Cut times on the year. She ranks second on the team in the event, behind Chelsea Weedman's time of 1:57.68.
Shishkoff only had one official swim on the afternoon after false starting in the finals. The junior swam 1:59.49 to post her fourth NCAA B Cut time of the season in the prelims of the event.
The NCAA Zone A Diving competition will take place on Friday, March 15 and Saturday, March 16, while the NCAA Championships will be competed March 21-23 in Indianapolis, Ind.
--NITTANY LIONS--