University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Relays, Jennings Advance to Tonight's Finals
3/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
The University of Minnesota's 400 medley relay advanced to tonight's A Final, while the 200 free relay and junior freestyler Christine Jennings will compete in the B final, tonight at the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio. The Golden Gophers began their NCAA Championships this morning at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the Ohio State University campus.
Minnesota's 400 medley relay will become first-team All-Americans as the Gophers finished fifth in the prelims this morning. The relay of Roxane Akradi, Jillian Tyler, Megan Braun and Stacy Busack paired together for a time of 3:35.19 and the fifth-place finish and a chance to compete in the A final. The last time the Gophers earned All-America honors in the 400 medley relay dates back to 1998-98 and it is the first time since 1996-97 that the Gophers will become first-team All-Americans in the event.
Minnesota opened the championships with a 14th-place finish in the 200 free relay. The Gopher relay of Busack, Meredith McCarthy, Erin Holtmeyer and Akradi combined for a time of 1:30.32, which is good enough to compete in the consolation finals tonight. Minnesota finished the event in 12th at last year's NCAA Championships.
Christine Jennings touched the wall in a time of 4:42.93, which placed her 12th in the 500 free prelims en route to her first-ever All-American honor in an individual event. Jennings entered this year's championships with two All-America honors, both coming in the 800 free relay. Yuen Kobayashi finished 33rd overall, respectively, with a time of 4:46.64.
Also competing in the morning prelims was Jenny Shaughnessy, who finished 21st in the 200 individual medley in a time of 1:59.55. Tyler finished 36th in the same event in 2:00.71, while Kait Strickland placed 42nd in 2:01.62. Busack chipped in a time of 22.80 in the 50 free for a 27th overall finish, followed by McCarthy in 59th in 23.32 and Holtmeyer in 63rd in 23.37.
Players Mentioned
