March 18, 2011
Preliminary Results | Dive-by-Dive Scoring
AUSTIN, Texas - Purdue's Erin Mertz closed her collegiate spring board career with her best-ever finish at the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, finishing third in Friday's 3-meter diving competition to earn All-American honors.
Mertz took third among a field of 37 competitors with a score of 373.90 points at the national meet. She qualified for the championship final by finishing second in the morning preliminaries. Duke's Abby Johnson (409.35 points) won the championship final after placing fifth in the preliminaries. She leapfrogged both Minnesota's Kelci Bryant and Mertz, who finished one-two in the prelims, as well as two other divers.
Mertz earned Purdue 16 team points with her third-place finish after posting five team points Thursday for her 12th-place showing in the 1-meter diving.
Purdue's 800 free relay team of Ariel Martin, Lisa Butler, Emily Fogle and Lauren Gustafson also scored by placing 16th. With the two points from the relay coupled with the 21 earned by Mertz, the Boilermakers are 23rd (of 40 scoring teams) through day two of the three-day meet.
Individually among the swimmers, Allie Smith accounted for the Boilermakers' highest finish by placing 26th in preliminaries of the 100 backstroke. Fogle made her NCAA Championships debut Friday with a 30th-place showing in the 100 breastroke.
Purdue's 200 medley relay team of Smith, Fogle, Butler and Martin placed 19th in the morning preliminaries. Butler (54th) and Martin (41st) also competed individually in the 200 freestyle Friday.
Diver Kara Cook took the boards for the first time this weekend, placing 32nd in the 3-meter preliminaries. Cook's top event, platform diving, is set for Saturday.
The NCAA Championships conclude Saturday with preliminaries set for noon (EDT).
Purdue Highlights
800 Free Relay Team (Martin, Butler, Fogle & Gustafson), 7:19.49 -- Finished 16th in finals
200 Medley Relay Team (Smith, Fogle, Butler & Martin), 1:39.69 - Finished 19th in preliminaries
3-Meter Diving
Erin Mertz, 373.90 (353.50 prelims) - Finished third in championship final
Kara Cook, 256.60 - Finished 32nd in preliminaries
100 Back
Allie Smith, 53.59 - Finished 26th in preliminaries
100 Breast
Emily Fogle, 1:01.48 - Finished 30th in preliminaries
200 Free
Ariel Martin, 1:47.39 - Finished 41st in preliminaries
Lisa Butler, 1:49.03 - Finished 54th in preliminaries