Handley, Parsons finish strong at Winter Nationals

12/02/2017 | 6:11:00 | Swimming & Diving

By: Tony McDaniel, SIUSalukis.com

Saluki swimmers Bryn Handley and Sam Parsons represented SIU at the USA Swimming Winter National Championships today and turned in strong performances against some of the nation's best swimmers.

Senior Bryn Handley swam in the 1,650-yard freestyle, perhaps her strongest event, and finished eighth with a time of 16:32.00. It was her best time in the event this season. Her time is less than a second and a half short of the NCAA B Standard to qualify for the 2017-18 NCAA Swimming and Diving National Championships. Her performance was good enough to outperform swimmers from Kentucky and Louisville.

In the 200-yard breaststroke, sophomore Sam Parsons was just short of qualifying for the evening's finals. She swam the morning's prelims with a time of 2:17.79. She was less than a half-second short of qualifying for the C Final and finished 26^th overall.