Feb. 10, 2007
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Senior Carlene Takaki clinched her spot at the NCAA Championships with her runner-up time of 1:58.86 in the 200 butterfly Saturday night at the Big Ten Championships.
Takaki's NCAA automatic qualifying cut means she will return to Minneapolis in one month with hopes of attaining her first All-America crown. The San Jose native is a three-time NCAA qualifier.
"I'm very proud of Carlene's performances," said head coach Cathy Wright-Eger. "She got her 'A' cut and posted two times of 1:58.00. The confidence and experience Carlene gained at this meet will help her a long ways at NCAA's. She's really going after it (All-America title); this is what she's always wanted."
Takaki was the conference's defending champion in the 200 fly, but could not find her way past Indiana's Allison Kay, who got off to a quick start from an outside lane. Takaki pushed back over the last 100 yards, but was beat to the wall by less than a half second, 1:58.40 to 1:58.86.
Kay's Hoosiers went on to win the team title with 715.5 points. Michigan was second with 562 points and two-time defending champion Penn State was third with 537.5 points.
The Boilermakers held off Northwestern for sixth place, 302 to 301, thanks to a 31-point output from its platform divers while the Wildcats were shut out in this event.
Senior Amanda Miller led the way with her third-place score of 288.90 points and Katie Berg was seventh with 226.85 points. Lauren Hallyburton and Chelsea Johnson also scored for a second-straight night; Hallyburton was 15th with 222.25 points and Johnson was 16th with 221.65 points.
The divers gave Purdue a 278-269 point lead over NU with only the 400 free relay remaining. The Wildcats finished third in 3:20.66, but the Boilermakers were just fast enough with their seventh-place and season-best time of 3:24.34. Kimbre Vogel led off the final relay with a 100-yard split of 51.95 and was followed by Katharine Telfer, Leah Henninger and Susan Hentschel.
"It all came down to that last relay, and Illinois really helped us out in our heat," said Wright-Eger. "They were very fast so we just kept going after them. We knew going in that if Northwestern was going to be third we'd have to at least finish seventh."
A senior, Hentschel posted one of the fastest anchor splits of the night at 49.83. Only Illinois' Barbie Viney and Michigan's Lindsey Smith's were faster.
Earlier in the night, Hentschel placed 10th in the 100 free with a season best and NCAA provisional cut of 50.53.
In the 200 breaststroke, junior Shannon Grace registered a personal best and ninth-place time of 2:17.02, shaving more than a second off her prelim mark of 2:18.36. Jennifer Lavers was 13th in this race with a time of 2:18.74.
Nicole Weatherman was the first Boilermaker on the board Saturday with her 14th-place effort of 16:53.95 in the 1650-yard freestyle. The last Boilermaker to score points in the mile was Erica Chandler, who placed 15th in 2004 with her mark of 16:48.85.
"Nicole has been working hard for this race all year, whether it was on her turns, yardage or stroke distance," said Wright-Eger. "She is very tough and just knows how to keep pushing herself."
Next up for the Boilermakers is their last-chance meet on the weekend of Feb. 17 and 18th. Illinois and Northwestern will be among the teams coming to Purdue in order to get more student-athletes qualified and ready for NCAAs.
2007 BIG TEN AWARDS
Swimmer of the Year: Yi Ting Siow, Wisconsin
Swimmer of the Championships: Lindsey Smith, Michigan
Diver of the Year: Christina Loukas, Indiana
Diver of the Championships: Christina Loukas, Indiana
Freshman of the Year: Presley Bard, Indiana
Swimming Coach of the Year: Ray Looze, Indiana
Diving Coach of the Year: Jeff Huber, Indiana
All-Big Ten First Team
Kaitlyn Brady, Michigan
Margaret Kelly, Michigan
Hannah Smith, Michigan
Lindsey Smith, Michigan
Christine Jennings, Minnesota
Meredith McCarthy, Minnesota
Jenny Shaughnessy, Minnesota
Yuen Kobayashi, Minnesota
Yi Ting Siow, Wisconsin
Jackie Vavrek, Wisconsin
Susan Johnson, Wisconsin
Katie Imhoff-Smith, Wisconsin
Allison Kay, Indiana
Christina Loukas, Indiana
Leila Vaziri, Indiana
Sarah Stockwell, Indiana
Presley Bard, Indiana
Annica Lofstedt, Indiana
Kaitlin O'Brien, Penn State
Lyndsey Smith, Penn State
All-Big Ten Second Team
Barbie Viney, Illinois
Amilee Smith, Indiana
Lindsay Weigle, Indiana
Clarissa Wentworth, Indiana
Emily Brunemann, Michigan
Hannah McClurg, Wisconsin
Christine Zweigers, Wisconsin
Valeria Silva, Indiana
Andrea Hupman, Northwestern
Emily Wong, Northwestern
Jenn Kocsis, Northwestern
Kassia Shishkoff, Northwestern
Elyse Lee, Michigan
Amanda Miller, Purdue
Carlene Takaki, Purdue