A Trio Of "B" Finalists On Day 2
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (2/19/16)—A trio of top 16 finishes highlighted the second day of the MIAC Championship Meet for the Cobbers. Ann Marie O'Connell, Annie Herkenhoff and Ciara White all qualified for the "B" finals as they helped Concordia score 53 points on the day.
Concordia now has 102 total team points for the meet and are in ninth place headed into the final day of competition on Saturday. The Cobbers are only three points behind Hamline in eighth place.
White came up with the top finish on Day 2. The freshman swam a 1:08.87 in the finals of the 100-yard breaststroke and placed 11th in the event. She qualified for the "B" final by swimming a 1:09.59 in the morning prelims. White's time in the night session was a season best time and only a second behind the winner of the "B" final.
While White posted the top individual finish of the day, the 800-yard freestyle team of Alaina Dehnke, O'Connell, White and Herkenhoff posted the top relay finish of the meet so far for CC. The quartet came home in a time of 8:12.39 and finished in sixth place. Their finishing time is a season best by almost a full 15 seconds. It is also less than second off the school record of 8:11.89 set back in 2009.
O'Connell started the championship session by recording a 16th-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley. O'Connell qualified for the "B" final with a time of 5:03.59 and then swam a 5:05.30 in the finals. Her time in the prelims was a career best by 11 seconds.
O'Connell just missed out another "B" final when she posted a time of 1:02.45 and finished in 17th place – just one spot out of the finals – in the 100-yard butterfly. That time was only .17 of a second behind the final qualifier in 16th place.
Herkenhoff continued her first MIAC Meet by earning her second trip to a "B' final. On Thursday she broke the school record in the 500-yard freestyle and then on Friday she qualified for the finals in the 200-yard freestyle.
Herkenhoff qualified for the evening session by touching the pad in a time of 2:00.71. She then recorded her first sub-2:00 200-freestyle by speeding to a 1:58.81 in the finals. Her time was good for 15th place.
The other top individual swims on Day 2 came from Jordyn Olson and Lauren Arnold. Olson raced in the first event of the morning and placed 19th in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 5:11.81. That time was a season best by over 14 seconds.
Arnold put up a pair of top 21 finishes. She was 19th in the 100-yard backstroke in a season-best time of 1:03.25 and then came home in No.21 spot in the 100-ayrd butterfly with a time of 1:04.08 which is also a season best time.
The 200-yard medley relay crew of Madeline Johnson, White, Arnold and O'Connell kicked off the night session by posting a time of 1:55.49 which placed them ninth in the event. Their time was a season best and only .33 of a second off the school record set in 2001.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Cobbers will complete the 2016 MIAC Championship Meet when they compete in Day 3 on Saturday beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.