Thursday Results: Prelims / Finals /// Dive-by-Dive Scoring / Photos / Notables
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Kaersten Meitz eclipsed her own program record in the 500 freestyle twice while finishing as a third-place medalist, highlighting the first full day of action for Purdue women's swimming & diving at the Big Ten Championships.
Meitz was fifth in the morning prelims with a time of 4:38.42 and then shaved nearly a second off her time in the championship final, moving up to third place with a new program benchmark of 4:37.45. She's now more than three seconds faster than any Boilermaker ever in the 500.
Jackie Smailis posted a pair of career-best times Thursday, taking third in the C final of the 50 free with a time of 22.80 that moved her up to fifth place in program history. She capped the night with a 100 backstroke split of 54.06 on the leadoff leg of the 400 medley relay, improving on her third-fastest time in the team record book. Smailis teamed with Jinq En Phee, Taite Kitchel and Meitz in the 400 medley relay, finishing sixth with a time of 3:35.93 that ranks second all-time in Purdue history.
.@Kaerstenmtz Meitz recaps her big Thursday at Big Tens, highlighted by breaking her own record in 500 Free twice. https://t.co/bsp0Mgo2Aq
-- Purdue Swimming (@PurdueWSwim) February 17, 2017
The Boilermakers scored 30 team points in both 1-meter diving and the 500 free Thursday. Morgan Meixner and Samm Reese took second and sixth in the consolation final of 1-meter diving. Meixner improved on her prelim score by 13.25 points, finishing with a team season-best mark of 292.20 in the final.
Purdue had four swimmers post career-best times in the 200 individual medley while accounting for a combined 16 team points as C finals qualifiers. Alex Clarke broke the two-minute mark in the final, moving up from the eighth seed in the race to a runner-up finish with a mark of 1:59.66 that improved on her third-fastest time in program history. Taite Kitchel (2:00.03), Meagan Lim (2:00.08) and Emmy Rawson (2:00.09) all posted similar times in the prelims and now rank fifth, sixth and seventh in the record book. Lim won heat four of the prelims and finished fourth in the C final. Kitchel was sixth and Rawson eighth in the final.
Danielle Auckley also scored Thursday by qualifying for the C final of the 50 free, eclipsing the 23-second mark with a career-best time of 22.98 in the prelims. Grace Hernandez and Maddie Barta won their heats of the 50 free in the prelims.
New pool records at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center were established by Ohio State's Liz Li in the 50 free (21.48), Minnesota's Yu Zhou in 1-meter diving (362.65) and Indiana's 400 medley relay team (3:28.89).
The Big Ten Championships continue Friday with prelims at 11 a.m. ET and finals at 6:30 p.m.
Third-place finish for Kaersten Meitz in the 500 Free! #BoilerUp https://t.co/tRua24wRzK
-- Purdue Athletics (@PurdueSports) February 16, 2017
Team Scores Through Thursday Finals
1.) No. 15 Indiana 393
2.) No. 12 Wisconsin 378.5
3.) No. 6 Michigan 363
4.) No. 21 Minnesota 361
5.) No. 22 Ohio State 307
6.) Northwestern 230
7.) Purdue 223
8.) Penn State 174
9.) Iowa 172
10.) Rutgers 171.5
11.) Nebraska 155
12.) Illinois 117
13.) Michigan State 115