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Indiana Divers Secure Hoosiers Lead After Day Two
Feb. 9, 2007
Minneapolis, Minn. -- The 2007 Big Ten Championships boasted to showcase some of the nation's most talented swimming and diving competitors, and the conference's elite lived up to its billing on Friday at Minnesota's University Aquatic Center. Indiana, ranked No. 13 in the country, jumped into first place while the rest of the league, including four other nationally ranked squads, battled to catch them on a day of competition highlighted by five champions repeating 2006 titles and one swimmer claiming her fourth consecutive event title. From the opening heat in Friday night's finals slate, races were won and lost by near .01 of a second. The reigning champion in the 200-yard freestyle medley, The 100-yard butterfly finals left off right where morning preliminaries ended with the same top three finishers repeating their order in tonight's finals. Although the results may not have been surprising, the race was anything but boring as the three top swimmers sprinted to the finish. Freshman Wolverine Margaret Kelly tried to upset defending title holder and teammate Kaitlyn Brady, but the senior would have nothing of it, out stretching Kelly at the wall in 53.41. Wisconsin Badger Susan Johnson took a third place finish in 53.87, just .04 seconds off of Kelly's second place time of 53.83. The win was Brady's second of the championships. After Nittany Lion Lyndsey Smith claimed her first Big Ten title in the 100-yard breaststroke when she touched the wall in 1:01.87. Runner-up in last year's 100-yard backstroke, senior Leila Vaziri finally made claim to the title, doing so in emphatic fashion and making sure to leave her mark. Vaziri blazed to a NCAA A-standard time of 52.85 while also re-writing the record books with a new Big Ten record to her name. Trying to keep up with Vaziri, nearly two seconds behind was teammate Presley Bard. Wisconsin Susan Johnson broke up the Hoosier one-two punch with a third place finish in 54.26. By the end of Friday night's individual events The Hoosiers swam to a fourth place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay, but it was enough to lead the conference teams into the final day of competition. Behind last year's Freshman of the Year in Yuen Kobayashi and this year's 500-yard freestyle title holder Christine Jennings, Minnesota repeated as relay champions. Northwestern finished second in 7:13.92 while Prior to tonight's finals honorees for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award from each team were recognized. The student-athletes chosen were individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Honorees for women's swimming and diving are Illinois' Caroline Moore, Indiana's Christie Fuchs, Iowa's Robin Samples, Michigan's Lindsey Smith, Michigan State's Danielle Sawyer, Minnesota's Holly Jakis, Northwestern's Jessie Bailis, Ohio State's Rebekah Rychvalsky, Penn State's Erin Morris, Purdue's Rory Belk and Wisconsin's Kristy Brager. These eleven student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year. The 2007 Big Ten Conference title race will come down to the final day of competition on Saturday, February 9. Preliminary events kick off at 11:00 a.m. CT. The championships final session will start at 7:00 p.m. CT with one relay event team, five individual titles, a platform diving champion and a team champion to be crowned. Check back to BigTen.org for live results and continuing coverage of the 2007 Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.
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