INDIANAPOLIS - Purdue's Kaersten Meitz impressed on the big stage on the opening night of the USA Swimming Phillips 66 National Championships, finishing sixth in the 800-meter freestyle.
Meitz posted a program-record and career-best time of 8:34.30 in the long-course event. She entered the night seeded eighth at 8:37.64. Forty-six women competed in the 800 free Tuesday, headlined by Olympic gold medalists and NCAA champions Katie Ledecky (Stanford) and Leah Smith (Virginia). Ledecky and Smith finished 1-2 in the sixth and final heat, which also featured Meitz.
The Phillips 66 National Championships are serving as USA Swimming's FINA World Championships Trials. Meitz put herself in contention for a berth at the World University Games later this summer in Taiwan.
Meitz is one of nine Purdue swimmers competing this week at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI. She'll race again in the 200 (Wednesday), 400 (Friday) and 1500 free (Saturday). Taite Kitchel represented the Boilermakers in the women's 200-meter butterfly Tuesday morning. Chris Bals, Tim Barth, Cady Farlow, Will Schrensky, Jackie Smailis, Jake Thomas and Joe Young are also scheduled to race this week.
As a three-time NCAA Championships qualifier, Meitz is a two-time honorable mention All-American in the 500-yard free. During the 2016-17 school year, she had a pair of memorable performances at the IU Natatorium. Along with her 13th-place finish in the 500 free at the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, she established a new program record in the 1,000-yard free (9:38.79) at the USA College Challenge all-star meet held in the Circle City in November.
Meitz began the long course season with a program-record time of 4:09.46 in the 400-meter freestyle at the Boilermaker Aquatics early bird meet the weekend of May 19 to 20 at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center. That time has her seeded eighth in the event Friday. However, unlike the 800 free which is a finals-only event, the 400 free features both morning prelims and evening finals.
PURDUE SWIMMERS AT PHILLIPS 66 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
June 27 to July 1 / IU Natatorium / Indianapolis, Indiana
All Events LCM
REMAINING PURDUE SCHEDULE
All listed times are start of first heat of that event in prelims (Times ET)
Wednesday, June 28
9 a.m. -- Women's 200 Free: Kaersten Meitz
10:07 a.m. -- Women's 200 Breast: Cady Farlow
10:40 a.m. -- Men's 200 Breast: Chris Bals, Will Schrensky
11:49 a.m. -- Men's 200 Back: Joe Young, Jake Thomas, Tim Barth
Thursday, June 29
11:22 a.m. -- Women's 50 Breast: Cady Farlow
11:34 a.m. -- Men's 50 Breast: Chris Bals
11:43 a.m. -- Women's 50 Back: Jackie Smailis
12:01 p.m. -- Men's 50 Back: Joe Young
Friday, June 30
9 a.m. -- Women's 400 Free: Kaersten Meitz
10:36 a.m. -- Women's 100 Breast: Cady Farlow
10:55 a.m. -- Men's 100 Breast: Chris Bals
11:10 a.m. -- Women's 100 Back: Jackie Smailis
11:39 a.m. -- Men's 100 Back: Joe Young
Saturday, July 1
2:35 p.m. -- Women's 1500 Free: Kaersten Meitz