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MEET INFORMATION
Purdue Women at the NCAA Championships
Wednesday to Saturday, March 15 to 18 / 10 a.m. ET Prelims, 6 p.m. ET Finals / ESPN3
IU Natatorium at IUPUI / Indianapolis, Indiana
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Six Boilermakers will represent Purdue women's swimming & diving in a combined nine events this week at the premier collegiate showcase in the country, the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis.
The meet begins Wednesday evening with the 800 freestyle relay and continues through Saturday night at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI. The individual events begin with the Thursday's prelims. The Boilermakers are slated to have four student-athletes compete each day, with three events on the team's schedule each day. Swimming prelims begin daily at 10 a.m. ET, diving trials get underway during the noon hour and finals sessions start at 6 p.m.
ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app will provide live video coverage of the Friday and Saturday night finals sessions. IUPUIjags.com is offering free webcasts of the remaining sessions. ESPNU will televise highlights of the ESPN3 coverage on March 28 (6 p.m.) and 29 (7 p.m.).
Purdue will be represented by Taite Kitchel, Emily Meaney, Kaersten Meitz, Morgan Meixner, Samm Reese and Lexi Vincent. Meitz is making her third appearance at the national championship meet as the program's most experienced active student-athlete. Vincent qualified in platform diving for the second year in a row. Kitchel, Meixner and Reese all made for the first time in their careers. Meaney qualified as a freshman.
Purdue has had at least one women's diver earn All-America honors at the NCAA Championships in 12 of the last 13 years. The Boilermakers will be represented in all three diving events this week after having four divers qualify for only the second time (2014). Casey Matthews won the 3-meter diving national title in 2013 when Indianapolis last served as the host city.
.@Kaerstenmtz & @t8kitch discuss how they've prepared for NCAAs in our March edition of Behind the Blocks. #BoilerUp https://t.co/SO7j5pgfnk
-- Purdue Swimming (@PurdueWSwim) March 12, 2017
Meitz is three-quarters of the way to becoming only the seventh Boilermaker to be a four-time NCAA Championships qualifier. She took 14th in the 500 freestyle last year to earn her first career honorable mention All-America award. In November, she broke the Purdue record in the 1,000 free at the IU Natatorium while competing for the Big Ten team at the USA College Challenge.
The Indiana Sports Corporation, IUPUI and the IU Natatorium are also hosting next week's Men's NCAA Championships. Both meets were also host by the same aquatic center in 2013 (IUPUI) and 2016 (Georgia Tech). The 2018 Women's NCAA Championships are set to be held at Ohio State's McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus.
Kitchel (Zionsville) and Meixner (Indianapolis) both hail from the Indianapolis metro area. Reese (Granger) and Vincent (Peru) are also in-state products. All are quite familiar with the IU Natatorium. The divers competed there in the fall at IUPUI's House of Champions Invitational.
Meitz is seeded among ninth in the 500 free via her program record (4:37.45) in the event from the Big Ten Championships. Meaney also established a new Purdue record in platform diving at Big Tens (359.30). Finishing among the top 16 in the prelims is what assures an athlete of All-America honors. The top eight compete for the national title in the championship final. Ninth to 16th place in the prelims advance to the consolation final and earn honorable mention All-America accolades. Mary Beth Dunnichay and Emily Fogle both posted top-eight finishes a year ago, helping the Boilermakers accumulate 35 team points to finish in 23rd place. The Boilermakers have finished in the top 25 at NCAAs eight times since 2005.
Fogle became Purdue's first female swimmer to be a full-fledged All-American since Caitlin Hamilton in 2010. This year, Meitz will be looking to become Purdue's first female swimmer to be an All-American in an individual event in consecutive years since Hamilton in 2010 and 2011.
The Purdue men will be represented by five student-athletes at the NCAA Championships next week in Indianapolis. Marat Amaltdinov, Joe Cifelli, Steele Johnson and Max Showalter are all slated to make their second appearances at the national championship meet. Brandon Loschiavo made it as a freshman.
PURDUE ENTRIES & SCHEDULE AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Taite Kitchel -- 100, 200 Fly; 200 IM
Emily Meaney -- 3-Meter, Platform Diving
Kaersten Meitz -- 200, 500, 1650 Free
Morgan Meixner -- 1-Meter Diving
Samm Reese -- 1-Meter, 3-Meter Diving
Lexi Vincent -- Platform Diving
Thursday, March 16 -- 10 a.m. Swimming Prelims, 12:30 p.m. Diving Prelims // 6 p.m. Finals
500 Free -- Kaersten Meitz
200 IM -- Taite Kitchel
1-Meter Diving -- Morgan Meixner, Samm Reese
Friday, March 17 -- 10 a.m. Swimming Prelims, 12:30 p.m. Diving Prelims // 6 p.m. Finals
100 Fly -- Taite Kitchel
200 Free -- Kaersten Meitz
3-Meter Diving -- Emily Meaney, Samm Reese
Saturday, March 19 -- 10 a.m. Swimming Prelims, 12:15 p.m. Diving Prelims // 6 p.m. Finals
200 Fly -- Taite Kitchel
Platform Diving -- Emily Meaney, Lexi Vincent
1650 Free (3:45 p.m.) -- Kaersten Meitz