Wednesday Results / Thursday Heat Sheets / Championships Central
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Purdue women's swimming and diving's 800 freestyle relay team qualified for the NCAA Championships for the fourth year in a row while finishing in third place on the opening night of the Big Ten Championships on Wednesday.
Allie Davis, Grace Hernandez, Nika Karlina Petric and Kaersten Meitz posted an NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 7:05.05 that ranks as the second fastest in program history. Davis and Petric, both seniors, have been part of the Boilermakers' 800 free relay team at NCAAs each of the last three years.
Davis led off with a split of 1:45.08 that was good for the third-fastest opening split of the event Wednesday. But it was Meitz anchoring the squad with a split of 1:44.91 that allowed Purdue to rally past Penn State for third place. Meitz posted the second-fastest anchor split of the race and overcame PSU's lead of .89 hundredths of a second, out touching the Nittany Lions' anchor swimmer by .62 hundredths.
Great job by the 800 Free Relay team, placing third and qualifying for NCAAs last night! #BoilerUp https://t.co/OjsdVU1muG
- Purdue Swimming (@PurdueWSwim) February 18, 2016
Unfortunately, Purdue also experienced the frustration of a disqualification in the 200 medley relay due to an early takeoff on the final exchange. The quartet of Hannah Manger, Emily Fogle, Meagan Lim and Breanna Robinson finished seventh with a time of 1:39.09 that would have been just .06 hundredths of a second off the program-record time from last season.
It marked the second time in the last three years that the Boilermakers suffered a DQ in the 200 medley relay at Big Tens. But this year that outcome hurts even more because relays are worth additional team points as a byproduct of C final qualifiers in the individual events now scoring for the first time. Two years ago, Purdue lost out on 24 points after a DQ wiped out a seventh-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Wednesday, the DQ cost the Boilermakers 46 points. Instead of being in a three-way tie for third place in the team scoring with 100 points, Purdue finds itself at the bottom of the list after the opening night.
The Big Ten Championships continue Thursday with prelims at 11 a.m. and finals at 6:30 p.m. The 50 and 500 free, 200 IM, 1-meter diving and 200 free relay are on the schedule for Thursday.
Opening Night Relays at Big Ten Championships
* -- New Purdue Season-Best Time
(A) -- NCAA Automatic Qualifying Time
800 Free Relay
Davis, Hernandez, Petric & Meitz, 7:05.05* (A) -- Finished 3rd; 2nd-Fastest in Program History
200 Medley Relay
Manger, Fogle, Lim & Robinson, 1:39.09 -- DQed for Early Takeoff