Feb. 22, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Ashley Karnes' bronze-medal performance on 3-meter was the Boilermakers' top showing Friday night at the Big Ten Championship hosted by Ohio State. Karnes finished with a total of 335.00 points, which was nine points higher than her previous best.
Karnes has scored 33 points at this year's championships. Thursday night, Karnes finished as the runner-up on 1-meter to Indiana's Brittany Feldman, who totaled 320.80 points.
Feldman also won tonight's 3-meter crown with 349.55 points and placed herself in a good position to win Big Ten Diver of the Championship honors. Karnes, who hadn't lost a springboard diving competition since the start of 2008, should receive major consideration Saturday night for Big Ten Diver of the Year.
Finishing behind Karnes on 3-meter were her teammates Kara Cook and Emily Griesemer. Cook totaled 283.20 points to finish ninth and Griesemer was close behind in tenth with 281.45 points.
Purdue's 32 diving points enabled the Boilermakers to creep past Ohio State for seventh place, 175 to 171. Wisconsin looks to have a hold on sixth place with 262 points.
The Big Ten title will likely come down between Minnesota and Michigan. The Golden Gophers lead the Wolverines, 420.5 to 407, entering Saturday's third and final day of competition.
Purdue's productive prelim session Thursday propelled seven swimmers into the finals and none of them disappointed head coach Cathy Wright-Eger. She was especially pleased with flyers Abby Kiffmeyer and Lauren Hyman.
I remember Abby's freshman year when she just missed the consolation finals of the 100 fly, but here we are four years later and she's swimming a 55.07 and has the second fastest time in team history," said Wright-Eger. "It was neat to see these seniors lower their personal bests and swim in the 55-second range for the first time in their careers. They had the whole team jumping up and down on the deck."
Neither Kiffmeyer nor Hyman could duplicate their prelim times of 55.07 and 55.23, but they sure were close. Kiffmeyer finished 13th with a 55.56 and Hyman came in 14th at 55.81.
Another pair of seniors, Jennifer Lavers and Shannon Grace, added their names to the scorebook in the 100 breaststroke. Grace was 14th with a 1:03.98 and Lavers touched 15th in 1:03.99 - both times were comparable to their prelim marks.
Freshman Allie Smith was the only Boilermaker to lower her time in finals, but her standing in the 100 backstroke dropped a spot from 10th to 11th. Smith posted a 55.16 in prelims and a 55.11 at night.
Smith's turn in the 100 back was her third swim of the day. Earlier in finals, the Green Bay, Wis., native led off the 200 medley relay that placed seventh in 1:43.46. Her 50-yard split was clocked at 26.25 seconds.
Kiffmeyer also was part of this relay, clocking a 50-yard butterfly split of 24.57.
Senior Nicole Weatherman, like Smith, has proven to be a workhorse on relays and individual events. Weatherman swam the 200 free three times Thursday and posted a personal record of 1:50.29 in prelims, a 1:52.29 in finals to place 16th and led off the 800 free relay with a 200-yard split of 1:52.07.
The Boilermakers resume competition at the Big Ten Championships Saturday at 11 a.m. with the third and final round of prelims. Finals are slated to begin at 6:30 p.m.