Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
Big Ten Championships
Hoosiers Sixth After Day One of Big Ten Championships
2/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 21, 2008
Results
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A pair of school records fell, a champion was crowned and two Indiana swimmers secured their spots at the NCAA Championships to highlight day one of the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the Ohio State campus.
The Hoosiers are in sixth place after one day with 95 points. Michigan is in the lead with 148 points, followed by Minnesota (137.5) and Penn State (117).
"We are a little bit behind, but we have a couple of good days coming up," said head coach Ray Looze. "We'll see if we can chip away from where we are at right now."
Brittney Feldman continued IU's dominance in diving by taking the 1-meter springboard title with a six-dive score of 320.80. Jade Summerlin moved up to 12th in the consolation final with a tally of 250.75.
"I am very pleased," said assistant diving coach Todd Waikel. "She is coming off a case of mono, so three weeks ago we were unsure if she was even going to be able to dive. I couldn't he happier. She looked great; she is relaxed and doing a great job."
Feldman finished fourth in the prelims with a score of 285.00, while Summerlin was 13th (236.95). Christina Kouklakis was 20th in the prelims (228.00), Ashley Green 21st (223.15) and Amy Korthauer 28th (209.40). Rounding out the IU contingent was Heidi Mahnken (32nd-204.15).
Amanda Smith took second in the 500 free with a school-record time of 4:43.33, her second school mark of the day after clocking a 4:43.95 in the prelims. Smith's time is an automatic qualifier for the NCAA meet.
"She did a great job," Looze said. "I thought she handled everything well, got into finals and then just didn't think too much and raced hard. She didn't really care where she was, she just tried to put her head down at the end and get to the wall."
Smith's record surpassed the previous time of 4:44.32 set by Sarah Fiden in 2004.
Amilee Smith competed in the consolation final, posting a time of 4:50.66 after clocking a provisional mark of 4:49.47 in the prelims. Allison Kay and Cassie Luhrsen swam in the bonus final of the 500 free and went 1-2 with Kay going 4:49.88 and Luhrsen 4:50.18. Also representing the Hoosiers were Kelsey Atchison who posted a time of 5:00.50 (37th) and Ashley Kranz with a time of 5:06.88 (49th).
Donna Smailis swam an NCAA automatic qualifying time and set a new school record with a mark of 1:59.69 in the 200-yard individual medley prelims and went on to finish fifth in the finals (2:00.00).
"She has been the most focused of anybody in the program," Looze said. "You really had to sense she was going to do something. She has such a bright future ahead of her and I am very proud of Donna today."
Smailis broke the old school record of 2:01.04 set by Kristen Bradley in 2004. Kristin Cihoski touched the wall first in the consolation final with a personal best time of 2:00.94, nearly two seconds better than her previous best set in the morning preliminaries. Presley Bard was 14th (2:03.17) after posting a personal best time of 2:01.45 in the preliminaries.
Abby Cooper placed third in the bonus in the bonus final (2:03.79) after a time of 2:03.23 in the morning session. Sarah Stockwell also swam a 2:03.23 in the prelims but opted not to swim the bonus final.
Brittany Epperson represented Indiana in the 50 freestyle where she swam 23.47 in the prelims to qualify for the bonus final. In the evening event Epperson was sixth in the bonus final and 22nd overall (23.64). Amy Harriman finished 42nd (24.24).
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Kate Zubkova, Cihoski, Cooper and Epperson finished sixth with a season best and NCAA B time of 1:32.57. The 400-medley relay team suffered a setback when its time of 3:35.66 was negated due to disqualification for leaving the blocks early.
School Records:
200 Individual Medley: Donna Smailis (1:59.69)
500 Freestyle: Amanda Smith (4:43.33)
Players Mentioned
