AUSTIN, Texas- Penn State senior captain Ally McHugh took home 18th place for her swim in the 500 freestyle preliminaries this morning at the NCAA Championships, hosted by the University of Texas.
McHugh completed the race in 4:39.89, about one second shy of her season-best of 4:38.46 at the Tennessee Invitational earlier this season. The 18th-place finish makes McHugh the second alternate for the final tonight. Arizona State's Emma Nordin sits in the first alternate spot with a preliminary time of 4:39.36.
Head Coach Tim Murphy expressed the difficulties of the first swim of the competition, but shared hope for the remaining days.
"She needed to be out a little faster to get a second swim. That is certainly always our hope," said Coach Murphy, "But, it's the first swim. It's NCAA's and we are moving on and getting ready for the 400 IM tomorrow."
McHugh will take the pool again tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. for the 400 IM preliminaries. She will be joined by junior Maddie Hart who will swim in the 100 Butterfly preliminaries. All preliminary races are available for streaming at TexasSports.com. The finals will begin at 5 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.
Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State swimming and diving teams during the season. Follow the team on Twitter at @PennStateSWIM and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstateswimminganddiving.
A fundraiser was launched to support freshman women's swimmer Nikolette Nolte and her family for costs associated with her leukemia treatment. Any surplus funds will be donated to THON and the Jessie Rees Foundation to help others facing pediatric cancer. Donate at gopsu.info/nikistrong.
