Aug. 1, 2007
Indianapolis, Ind.; August 1, 2007 - Three Penn State swimmers placed in the top 16 in two different events to lead the 30-member contingent of Penn State swimmers participating on the first night of the ConocoPhillips U.S. National meet on Tuesday evening at the IUPUI Natatorium. Junior-to-be Kaitlin O'Brien finished seventh in the finals of the 200-meter breaststroke while fellow junior-to-be Karie Haglund also placed seventh in the finals of the 200-meter butterfly. Sophomore-to-be Kailey Morris placed 16th in the `B' finals of the 200 butterfly. Several other Nittany Lions also performed well on Tuesday in the first day of the five-day national meet.
O'Brien, who was ranked 49th in the country in the long-course meter 200 breast entering the meet, swam the sixth-fastest time of the morning preliminaries with a 2:30.85 and then placed seventh in the finals with a time of 2:30.87. The native of Caldwell, N.J. will swim in her best event, the 400 IM on Wednesday. A two-time Big Ten champion and the school record holder in the 400 IM, O'Brien is ranked 52nd in the country in the 400 IM for long course meters, which nationals are held in, and 20th in the country in short course yards, which is what most NCAA meets are held in.
Haglund swam the seventh fastest time in the morning prelims, coming in at 2:13.15 in the 200 fly and then also finished seventh in the `A' finals in 2:14.29. Morris tied for 12th in the morning prelims in 2:14.41 before settling for a 16th place finish in the finals at 2:15.47. Haglund entered the meet ranked 38th in both long course meters and short course yards in the 200 fly while Morris was ranked 23rd in short course yards and 54th in long course meters.
Several other Nittany Lions swimmers also swam on Tuesday's first day of competition. Caitlin Meehan swam in the `C' finals of the 200 breast and finished 21st with a 2:33.78 in the finals. She finished 17th in the prelims, just one spot and .07 of a second out of the 16th and final spot in the `B' and second scoring heat of the finals. Tim Williams placed 25th in the prelims of the men's 200-meter butterfly. In the men's 1500-meter freestyle, David Kraft finished 18th, just 1.40 seconds out of scoring in 16th place.
Complete results as well as free nightly webcast of the finals are available on the U.S. Swimming website, www.usaswimming.org.
Penn State swimmers competing on Tuesday (July 31) at U.S. Nationals
Women's 200-meter breaststroke
Kaitlin O'Brien (Prelims: 2:30.85 - 6th; Finals: 2:30.87 - 7th)
Caitlin Meehan (Prelims: 2:33.94 - 17th; Finals: 2:33.78 - 21st)
Clare Clemens (Prelims: 2:37.29 - 52nd)
Lyndsey Smith (Prelims: 2:37.59 - 56th)
Abby Hoisington (Prelims: 2:39.27 - 65th)
Women's 200-meter butterfly
Karie Haglund (Prelims: 2:13.15 - 7th; Finals: 2:14.29 - 7th)
Kailey Morris (Prelims: 2:14.41 - T12th; Finals: 2:15.47 - 16th)
Kelly Nelson (Prelims: 2:16.48 - 31st)
Men's 200-meter butterfly
Tim Williams (Prelims: 2:02.32 - 25th)
Men's 1500-meter freestyle
David Kraft - 15:45.76 - 18th
Daniel Calderon - 15:49.78 - 26th
Chris Sullivan - 15:58.41 - 37th
Ben Ryan - 16:15.37 - 55th
