10 Qualify For Saturday Night's Championship Finals

March 2, 2013

BIG EAST – Saturday Prelims

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – In the final prelims of the meet, 10 University of Notre Dame women’s swimmers and divers qualified for Saturday night’s finals at the 2013 BIG EAST Championships at IUPUI Natatorium.

Leading the way was junior Kelly Ryan who qualified in both the 200 back and 100 free.

Senior Kim Holden (200 Back) and sophomore Emma Reaney (200 Breast) were the top qualifiers in their respective events.

Notre Dame also qualified three finalists each in the 200 fly and platform diving events.

The Irish got off to a good start Saturday morning as Holden and Ryan repeated their feat in the 100 back from a day ago by qualifying first and second in the 200 back. Holden went 1:55.00, while Ryan touched the pad in 1:56.10. Both were NCAA B cuts.

Looking to add to her already impressive week, Reaney breezed through the 200 breast prelims in an NCAA “B” cut time of 2:09.49, to take the first spot by well over three seconds.

In the consolation finals three Irish swimmers will make up the top three spots. Christen McDonough qualified ninth in 2:16.34, followed by Genevieve Bradford (10^th-2:17.03) and Lauren Stauder (11^th-2:17.14).

With very little break between the 200 back and 100 free prelims Ryan qualified fourth with a time of 50.15 in the latter of the two events. Qualifying for the consolation finals was freshman Catherine Galletti, who took 12^th in 51.06.

Three Irish swimmers made the finals in the 200 fly as Bridget Casey (4^th-1:59.99), Courtney Whyte (2:00.23) and Melissa Scott (7^th-2:01.89) all placed in the top seven.

A trio of Irish divers advanced to the championship finals in the platform as freshman Lindsey Streepey (2^nd-234.70), Emma Gaboury (4^th-211.95) and Allison Casareto (5^th-201.50) all placed in the top five. Senior Jenny Chiang just missed out on the finals by .70 points as she placed ninth (185.85) in the prelims.

Heats of the women’s 1,650 free will begin at 3 p.m. with the final heats opening up the finals at 6 p.m. Notre Dame trails Louisville by 54 points (592-538) heading into the final night of competition.

–ND–