Southern Illinoise University Athletics
MVC Championships: Day Two Preliminaries
02/19/2015 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
By Elizabeth Robinson
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Saluki women's swimming and diving team had a strong start to Day Two of the MVC Swimming and Diving Championships, qualifying seven athletes for the A Finals at today's preliminary events. Tonight's finals session begins at 6 p.m. in the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium in the SIU Student Rec Center.
The Salukis dominated the 500-yard Freestyle - Thursday's first event - claiming the top four seeds for tonight's final. Freshman Kelsie Walker earned first place, finishing in 4:52.25. Bryn Handley, Lauren Stockton and Helena Amorim took the second, third and fourth seeds, respectively. Freshman Nicole Fuller finished only two spots out of the A Final, taking 10th place with a 5:01.15 finish, qualifying for the B Final.
"We needed to come out pretty strong this morning, and the 500 Free is a good event for us," head coach Rick Walker said. "We got four in, which is very nice, and it was a good start for us."
In the 200-yard Individual Medley, freshman Chandler Ott swam 2:06.70 to finish fifth overall. Senior Hannah Pinion finished just one spot out of the A Final, coming in ninth at 2:07.83.
Forty-five swimmers competed in the 50-yard Freestyle preliminary races, including seven Salukis. SIU freshman McKenna Avery swam 23.55 to earn the fifth seed, followed by senior Holly Johnson who came in at 23.76 for the eighth seed.
"We're not very deep in the 200 IM or the 50 Free, but the girls that we had in there did their jobs," Walker said. "The best way we can go through this is to maximize our positives and minimize our negatives. I think this morning was a classic example of trying to get that done."
For One-Meter Diving prelims, Kaixuan 'Sherry' Zhang - the reigning MVC Champion - took first place, followed by Esther Chen and Rachel Williams in third and seventh places, respectively. All three Salukis will dive again tonight.
Tonight's finals session begins at 6 p.m., starting with the 500-yard Freestyle. Finals events for the 200-yard Individual Medley, 50-yard Freestyle, One-Meter Dive and 200-yard Freestyle Relay will follow.
Players Mentioned
