June 30, 2008

Omaha, Neb. - Pat Schirk squeezed into the finals of the 100-meter backstroke on Monday night, grabbing the final spot in tomorrow's night's finals with an eighth place finish in the semifinals on Monday.

Schirk, who was seeded 12th in the 100 back but finished seventh in the preliminary heats on Monday morning, placed eighth in the semis with a time of :54.16 to advance to the finals on Tuesday night, which will be televised live by USA Network from 8-9 p.m. on Tuesday. Schirk's time was 1.07 seconds behind the first place finisher in the semifinals. The top two finishers in tomorrow night's final automatically qualify for the Olympics in that event.

Former Penn State swimmer Corrie Clark, who still holds the school record in the 200-yard breaststroke, placed 16th in the semifinals of the 100-meter breaststroke in a time of 1:09.97.

Two other women's swimmers were just outside of qualifying for the semifinals in the 100 back as Kaitlyn Ferguson and Michelle Myers placed 21st and 22nd, respectively.

Other Penn State results from Monday at Trials are listed below.

Women's 100 Backstroke
Kaitlyn Ferguson (21st - 1:02.59)
Michelle Myers (T22nd - 1:02.60)
Daphne Skelos (81st - 1:04.15)
Women's 100 Breaststroke
Abby Hoisington (73rd - 1:12.58)
Caitlin Meehan (93rd - 1:13.67)
Lyndsey Smith (96th - 1:13.83)
Women's 400 Freestyle
Kailey Morris (45th - 4:18.12)
Karie Haglund (74th - 4:22.35)
Men's 100 Backstroke
Pat Schirk (7th - :54.52; Semis: 8th - :54.16)
Dan Fimbianti (76th - :58.28)