Dec. 4, 2003
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Snohomish, Wash., native Erica Chandler recorded a lifetime best of 4:23.61 in the 400-meter freestyle during the first day of competition at the U.S. Open. In front of a hometown crowd at the King Aquatic Center, Chandler placed 29th out of 77 competitors and came within a half second of qualifying for a spot in Thursday night's finals.
Chandler's performance was one of several highlights for the Purdue women's swim team, which sent a handful of its best to face the top competition in the world. Over 900 swimmers are entered into the three-day long-course meter event, a group which includes American gold medalists Brooke Bennett, Misty Hyman and Megan Quann.
Purdue is just one of 243 entered teams, and are competing against a number of swim clubs and international squads, such as Ukraine, Japan, Canada and The Netherlands.
"Everyone's times today were better than their original seeds, so I felt that was very encouraging," said head coach Cathy Wright-Eger. "I thought our 50 freestyle group was a little nervous, but all of them ended up having decent swims and they'll all be ready for the 200 free tomorrow (Friday)."
The 50-meter free group included Christine Leupold, who led the Boilermaker trio with a mark of 27.11. Behind her were fifth-year senior Kim Paradeise and (27.30) and freshman Susan Hentschel (27.39).
Senior Autumn Sample opened the meet for the Boilermakers, recording a time of 2:29.82 in the 200 individual medley. Wright-Eger was pleased with Sample's time since it was faster that what she recorded this past summer.
Sample is slated to compete again Friday in the 100-meter butterfly, as are Leupold, Chandler, Hentschel and Paradeise in the 200-meter free. Prelims begin at 12 p.m. EST, with finals scheduled to start at 9 p.m. Swim fans can receive live results via the U.S. Open link at www.usa-swimming.org.
Although the women do not return to the Boilermaker Aquatic Center until early January, the men's team will be in action there on Friday night as they play host to No. 15 Texas A&M. The dual meet starts at 6 p.m.