Feb. 18, 2011

Results

Official 2011 Big Ten Championships Website

Friday Photo Gallery

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Career-best efforts were the theme during Friday morning's preliminary session at the 2011 Big Ten Championships after a pair of Wildcat veterans earned scoring spots in the evening finals session with spectacular swims.

Junior Hannah Points (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) got Northwestern off to a good start Friday morning in the 400 IM, coming within half a second of her career best in the event to qualify ninth overall in an NCAA `B' time of 4:15.63. Joining her in the consolation final will be Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual), whose `B' time of 4:19.14 was good for 15th overall after the morning session.

Both Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and Becca Soderholm (Madison, Wis./Madison East) won second swims in the bonus final of the 400 IM. Patterson qualified 21st overall in 4:21.55 while Soderholm was 23rd with a 4:22.24.

In the 100 fly, Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) gave NU another point scorer when she qualified 15th overall with a time of 54.85. A pack of four swimmers were within .03 of a second of each other in spots 14 through 17, with Cavanaugh touching just well enough to get the consolation final berth.

Identical times of 55.48 for Katie Eschenburg (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) and Alex Kraus (Birmingham, Ala./Vestavia Hills) gave the Wildcats the final two spots available for Friday night's 100 fly bonus final. Missing out on a second swim, but still finishing 30th overall with a career-best time was Marybeth Hall (Brighton, Mich./Brighton), whose 56.11 continued to lower the lifetime standards she set just a few weeks ago at the Shamrock Invitational.

Freshman Jackie Powell (Madison, Wis./James Madison Memorial) earned a consolation final berth in the 200 free with a `B' cut of 1:47.99, qualifying in the 16th and final scoring spot for the 'Cats. Senior Ellen Grigg (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School) will swim in the bonus final after a 23rd place `B' time of 1:48.98.

Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) earned Northwestern's first championship final berth of the meet when she swam a career-best and NCAA `B' time of 1:01.31 in the 100 breast to qualify eighth overall.

In the 100 back, senior Liza Engstrom's (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen) career-best and NCAA `B' cut time of 54.56 earned her a consolation final berth after she ended up 11th overall following the morning session. It also broke her own school record in the event. Eschenburg is the first alternate for the bonus final, qualifying 25th with a time of 56.79.

Friday's finals session gets underway at 5:30 p.m. CT tonight. Live results and further information are available at the Official 2011 Big Ten Championships website.

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