March 19, 2016
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ATLANTA ââ'¬" Senior Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico) made her final Penn State swim a memorable one by setting a new school record and earning honorable mention All-America honors, as the Nittany Lions placed 25th at the 2016 NCAA Women's Swimming Championships Saturday in the McAuley Aquatic Center.
Rodriguez placed 11th in the 200 breaststroke to lead Penn State on the final day. She broke her own school standard in the preliminaries by exactly a half-second, touching in 2:08.33. She then swam even faster in the finals, touching in 2:07.80.
"Her swim this morning was just flat out tough," said Penn State head coach Tim Murphy. "And she came back tonight and swam a very poised swim. I think she was sixth [in the consolation finals] at the 100 and ended up third at the end of the heat."
The Lions concluded the night with a 15th-place in the 400 freestyle relay. Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec), Niki Price (Manchester, Pa,), Haley Sinatro (West Hartford, Conn.) and Kaitlin Jones (Midlothian, Va.) touched in 3:15.87 for the Lions' second All-America honorable mention relay of the week.
"Rodriguez and the relay put us in the top 25, and that has a pretty nice ring to it," said Murphy. "We had some pretty good swims across the board. Just a real good, solid effort. The ladies stayed focused. We knew it would be difficult to put points on the board."
Ackman and Jones also competed individually in the 100 free. Ackman placed 20th in 48.61 seconds, while Jones trailed in 49.75.
The 200 butterfly featured two Nittany Lions, Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.) and Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.) Rowe placed 29th in 1:57.49, while Sowinski touched in 1:59.53. Additionally, Casey Francis placed 25th in the mile in 16:13.52.
Friday, Ackman finished second in the consolation finals of the 200 free, touching in 1:44.78 after finishing in 1:44.72 in the preliminaries. Kaitlin Jones also competed in the 200 free but did not advance out of the preliminaries after finishing 37th in 1:46.59.
"We had a good; real proud of the ladies efforts today," said head coach Tim Murphy. "Katie Rowe with a lifetime best…and she finished 19th in the country which was just super. Ackman did a really nice job racing both this morning and tonight."
Senior Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.) narrowly missed advancing in the 400 individual medley, placing 19th in the preliminaries in a personal-best 4:09.77. The time was more than two seconds lower than her personal and season best and ranks her as the third fastest in the event in program history. Junior Casey Francis (East Meadow, N.Y.) also competed in the event, finishing in 4:18.27.
Another strong morning performance came from Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico), who placed 28th in the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.75.
Thursday, Ackman touched in a season best in the 50 free 22.41, but it was not enough to advance to the finals, and she placed 28th. Tough competition prevented the Nittany Lions from earning evening swims, who sit 27th as a team with six points.
Jones trailed Ackman in the 50 in 23.28, while Rowe placed 37th in the 200 individual medley in 1:58.76.
Francis led the distance effort in the 500 freestyle, placing 47th in 4:46.18, while Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.) also competed and touched in 4:53.58.
The 400 medley relay team of Ackman, Rodriguez, Niki Price (Manchester, Pa,) and Jones placed 25th in 3:36.61. The Lions were disqualified from the 200 freestyle relay due to an early jump.
Wednesday, the Penn State team of Ackman, Price, Megan Wujciak and Jones was named honorable mention All-America in the 800 freestyle relay Wednesday evening to open the
The quartet combined to finish in a season-best 7 minutes, 4.42 seconds to place 14th. It was also the second fastest time in school history in the event.
For Ackman, it is her 11th career first team or honorable mention All-America honor, while it was Jones' second after earning first-team honors as a part of last season's 800 free relay performance. It was the first for Price and Wujciak who both made their NCAA Championships debuts.