TicketsFeb. 17, 2011
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Liz Hansson set a school record in the 50-yard freestyle and four University of Cincinnati swimmers qualified for A finals as day two of the 2011 BIG EAST Conference Championships got underway at the Ralph Wright Natatorium Thursday.
The meet will continue Thursday evening and run through Saturday evening in Louisville. Events on tap for Thursday include the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, and 50-yard freestyle.
Katie Nemann was UC's top finisher in the women's 500-yard freestyle, clocking 5:03.35 to place 24th in the preliminaries. Melody Smith finished in 27th with her effort of 5:05.86.
Stephen Cunningham made the A final in the men's 500 freestyle. He placed seventh in the morning preliminaries with an NCAA B time of 4:26.92. That time is the fifth-fastest in school history.
Nathan Williams clocked 4:35.92 to place 18th, making him the second alternate for the Thursday night finals. Nate Kramer placed 35th with his time of 4:42.86.
A pair of Bearcats made the A final in the 200-yard individual medley with Sammie Wheeler (2:03.41) grabbing seventh place and Josefin Wede (2:03.50) on her heels in eighth place.
Brittany Groene swam a preliminary time of 2:05.43 to place 16th and grab the final spot in Thursday's B final. Victoria Jacumski placed 25th with her time of 2:07.28, and Erin Frye was 30th with a 2:08.94 clocking.
Matt Hargrove was the top finisher for the men in the 200 IM, clocking 1:56.41 and placing 40th. Mike Whipkey was behind him in 31st (1:56.52), and Nathan Spruill placed 37th with his effort of 2:01.25.
Liz Hansson made the A final in the 50 freestyle as the No. 2 seed. She clocked a school-record time of 22.96 in the preliminaries, beating Marein de Jong's previous mark of 22.97, set on Feb. 17, 2002.
Bree Rossi (24.02) and Weronika Wasiakowska (24.03) placed 17th and 18th, respectively, earning the No. 1 and No. 2 alternate slots for tonight's final.
Alicia Berman placed 20th (24.11), Laurie Caudy came in 24th (24.21), Bailey Laban was 32nd (24.34), and Kinsey Kowalski took 34th (24.40).
Matt Hays swam a 20.96 clocking in the morning prelims, earning the second alternate slot and the No. 18 place overall in the 50 freestyle.
Roberto Nevarez clocked 21.33 to place 25th. Daniel Oldham was 30th (21.54), Seth Poitinger placed 33rd (21.59), Britton Van Dieesl was 35th (21.83), Christopher Hale took 37th (21.97), and Robert Walsh placed 41st (22.10).
Action continues at 6 p.m. Thursday in Louisville with the finals of the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, and the 200 freestyle relay.
Preliminaries are set to begin at 10 a.m. ET each day with finals set at 6 p.m. Live results and a free live stream of the events are available at www.BIGEAST.org.