Results: Saturday / Full / Dive-by-Dive Scoring /// Purdue Notables / Meet Central
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Diver Emily Meaney won bronze on the platforms and Emmy Rawson regained possession of the program record in the 200 butterfly, highlighting the final day of the Big Ten Championships for Purdue women's swimming & diving.
The Boilermakers finished sixth in the team scoring with 693 points.
Rawson had the honor of being Purdue's only student-athlete to eclipse an individual program record at Big Tens this week. New team benchmarks were also established in both medley relays.
Meaney led the way as the Boilermakers had three of the top nine finishers on the tower. Emily Bretscher placed fifth in the championship final and Lexi Vincent won the consolation final for the second time in her career. Vincent (325.20) and Bretscher (320.40) both posted career-best scores to move into sixth and seventh place in program history. Bretscher scored in all three diving events as a freshman.
A pair of Boilermakers qualified for the championship final of all three diving events this week. Purdue was the only team with two in the platform final Saturday night.
Highlights of Emily & Emily representing Purdue well on the tower at Big Tens. They teamed with Lexi Vincent to give us 3 of the top 9 finishers at Big Tens. #BoilerUp pic.twitter.com/6WY4Xv5tDn
-- Purdue Swimming (@PurdueWSwim) February 18, 2018
Taite Kitchel and Rawson both qualified for the A final of the 200 fly. Kitchel entered the week as Purdue's record holder after eclipsing Rawson's mark in November. Rawson regained possession of the record with a time of 1:55.95 in the prelims, becoming the first Boilermaker to break 1:56 in the event. Rawson finished fifth and Kitchel seventh in the final.
Kaersten Meitz placed seventh in the mile with a time that matched the program record (16:02.02) entering the season. In November, Meitz became the first Boilermaker to ever break 16 minutes in the event. The senior finished among the top seven in all three of her individual events this week and was named second team All-Big Ten after winning silver in the 500 freestyle Thursday.
Jinq En Phee (200 breast, 2:11.57) and Jackie Smailis (200 back, 1:57.00) both accounted for the third-fastest times in program history in their events Saturday. Emily Meckstroth took ninth in the mile with the fourth-fastest time (16:17.32) in the team record book.
Emily Converse (1650 free, 16:38.65, 11th), Natalie Myers (200 back, 1:59.82, 11th), Evan King (200 fly, 2:00.13, 12th) and Alex Clarke (200 back, 2:00.00, 13th) also posted career-best times that ranked among the program's all-time leaders.
A complete scoring breakdown of the Boilermakers' week at the Big Ten Championships will be posted at PurdueSports.com in the coming days.
Meanwhile, selected Purdue swimmers will choose to race at the Boiler-Make-It NCAA last chance Saturday at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center. Women's swimming qualifiers for the NCAA Championships are expected to be announced Feb. 27 or 28. The Zone C Diving Championships, set for March 8 to 10 back in Columbus, will serve as the NCAAs qualifier for the divers.
FINAL TEAM SCORES
1.) No. 5 Michigan 1465
2.) No. 9 Indiana 1152.5
3.) No. 13 Ohio State 1094.5
4.) No. 16 Minnesota 1049
5.) No. 23 Wisconsin 755
6.) Purdue 693
7.) Northwestern 528
8.) Penn State 418
9.) Rutgers 386
10.) Nebraska 358
11.) Iowa 338
12.) Illinois 187
13.) Michigan State 172
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