Season Recap: 12 Compete at NCAAs as Purdue Finishes 19th

Purdue Big Tens Scoring Recap

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – All-America honors for Lexi Vincent, Kaersten Meitz and Jinq En Phee plus a program-record 12 qualifiers for the NCAA Championships highlighted Purdue women's swimming & diving's 2017-18 campaign.

The Boilermakers finished in 19th place at the national championship meet. That matched Purdue's third-best finish ever, behind only two years that it hosted NCAAs (2005 and 2010). The program finished among the top 25 at NCAAs for the 10th time since 2005.

Vincent (4th, platform diving), Meitz (5th, 500 freestyle) and Phee (8th, 100 breaststroke) were All-Americans as championship finals qualifiers. Samm Reese and Morgan Meixner were also honorable mention All-America in 1-meter diving. Meitz earned similar honors in the 1,650 freestyle.

The 2010 season marked the only other time that Purdue had three full-fledged All-Americans in the same year.

Meitz closed out her career as a four-year individual qualifier for the NCAA Championships, becoming just the fifth Boilermaker to accomplish the feat. She eclipsed program records in the 500 and 1,650 free as a senior. The second team All-Big Ten honoree also swam on the 800 free relay at NCAAs, as Purdue qualified a relay for the first time since 2015. The rest of the relay team was comprised of freshmen – Gretta DeCoursey, Megan Johnson, Maizie Seidl. Diver Emily Bretscher also qualified for NCAAs in her first year after scoring in all three diving events at Big Tens.

Taite Kitchel and Emmy Rawson both eclipsed the program record in the 200 butterfly this season while earning their second career bids to the NCAA Championships. As a sophomore, Phee was an All-American in her debut at the national championship meet. Fellow sophomore Emily Meaney also went back to NCAAs after winning bronze on platform at Big Tens.

Meitz was selected to the USA Swimming National Team in September 2017 after competing for her country at the World University Games. She became only the third swimmer in program history to be an All-American in an individual event three years in a row, joining Lindsay Lange (2001-03) and Kim Fritsch (1992-94). She also broke through as a championship finalist in the 500 after she was honorable mention All-American each of the last two seasons. Meitz was also Purdue's top scorer at Big Tens for the third year in a row.

The Boilermakers had two finalists in all three diving events at Big Tens, the only team to accomplish the feat this year. All five divers went on to qualify for NCAAs and Purdue had at least one All-American diver for the 14th time in the last 15 years.

Vincent was an All-American on platform for the second year in a row, joining Michelle Cabassol (2013-14) and Carrie McCambridge (2005-06) as Purdue divers to be full-fledged All-Americans in the same event in consecutive seasons.

The Boilermakers will have to bid adieu to an accomplished senior class headlined by Reese, Meitz and Rawson, but they're scheduled to return nine of their 12 NCAA Championships qualifiers for the 2018-19 season.

ALL-AMERICA
Lexi Vincent – Platform Diving
Kaersten Meitz – 500  Free
Jinq En Phee – 100 Breast

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICAN
Kaersten Meitz – 1650 Free
Samm Reese – 1-Meter Diving
Morgan Meixner – 1-Meter Diving

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS QUALIFIERS
Kaersten Meitz – 200, 500 & 1650 Free; 800 Free Relay
Taite Kitchel – 100 & 200 Fly, 200 IM
Emmy Rawson – 100 & 200 Fly, 200 IM
Jinq En Phee – 100 & 200 Breast
Morgan Meixner – 1-Meter & 3-Meter Diving
Samm Reese – 1-Meter & 3-Meter Diving
Emily Bretscher – 1-Meter & Platform Diving
Emily Meaney – Platform Diving
Lexi Vincent – Platform Diving
Gretta DeCoursey – 800 Free Relay
Megan Johnson – 800 Free Relay
Maizie Seidl – 800 Free Relay

SECOND TEAM ALL-BIG TEN
Kaersten Meitz – 500 Free (Silver Medalist)

MORE BIG TEN MEDALISTS
Emily Meaney – Bronze in Platform Diving

BIG TEN POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP
Hanna House

BIG TEN WEEKLY AWARDS
Maizie Seidl – Swimmer & Freshman of the Week (Feb. 14)

PROGRAM RECORDS
500 Free – Kaersten Meitz, 4:35.82
1000 Free – Kaersten Meitz, 9:38.46
1650 Free – Kaersten Meitz, 15:54.41
200 Fly – Taite Kitchel, 1:55.90
200 Medley Relay – Smailis, Phee, Kitchel & Auckley, 1:37.83
400 Medley Relay – Smailis, Phee, Kitchel & Meitz, 3:34.72

TEAM AWARDS
Most Valuable – Kaersten Meitz
Most Improved – Emily Bretscher, Maizie Seidl
P2S&D – Cady Farlow
Whatever It Takes – Taite Kitchel, Emmy Rawson
Star Recruiter – Riley Kishman
Tom Reiter Commitment to Excellence – Danielle Auckley, Kaersten Meitz
Cathy Wright-Eger Continuing Women of Educational Excellence – Hanna House
Captain Awards – Kaersten Meitz, Emmy Rawson, Annie Spalding, Lexi Vincent
Red Mackey (Excellence by a Senior) – Annie Spalding

DISTINGUISHED  BIG TEN SCHOLARS (3.7+ GPA)
Danielle Auckley
Alex Clarke
Emily Converse
Cady Farlow
Anna Giesler
Julianne Heyde
Rachel Ho
Hanna House

CSCAA SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICA (3.5+ GPA & NCAAs QUALIFIER)
Emily Bretscher
Megan Johnson
Kaersten Meitz
Jinq En Phee
Lexi Vincent

CSCAA HONORABLE MENTION SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICA (3.5+ GPA & B CUT)
Danielle Auckley
Cady Farlow
Hanna House
Riley Kishman
Natalie Myers

ACADEMIC ALL-BIG TEN (3.0+ GPA)
Danielle Auckley
Maddie Barta
Alex Clarke
Emily Converse
Cady Farlow
Alex Ford
Anna Giesler
Roxy Griffore
Julianne Heyde
Rachel Ho
Hanna House
Taite Kitchel
Courtney Kresl
Kate May
Emily Meaney
Emily Meckstroth
Kaersten Meitz
Morgan Meixner
Natalie Mudd
Jinq En Phee
Samm Reese
Breanna Robinson
Cally Sampson
Jackie Smailis
Annie Spalding
Reagan Thom
Lexi Vincent