GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 26 • 23
SWIMMING FINISHES NO. 30
AT NCAAS
All-America performances
from six of its nine competitors
boosted Purdue into a 30th-place
finish at the NCAA Champion-
ships in Greensboro, N.C., over the
weekend.
Purdue finished with multiple
All-Americans in diving for the sixth
time in the last seven years thanks
to strong showings from Mary Beth
Dunnichay and MacKenzie Twear-
dy.
Dunnichay earned her first
career All-America accolades with
a fifth-place showing in 1-meter div-
ing. She squeaked into the finals with
the eighth-best score in prelims after
her final two dives of 54.60 and 54.00
jumped several divers in the stand-
ings. She made another leap in the
finals with a season-best score of
323.30 to finish fifth.
Dunnichay's performance gave
the Purdue women a diving All-
American in 11 of the last 12 years
and accounted for 14 of Purdue's 29
points. She finished 31st in the pre-
lims of 3-meter diving and 18th in
platform diving, nearly making the
consolation finals.
Tweardy earned All-America
honors for the second consecutive
season after placing fourth in the
consolation final of platform diving
with a score of 294.15.
As expected, Purdue's 800
free relay team posted the Boiler-
makers' best performance on the
swimming side. The quartet of
Rhiannon Sheets, Abby Jagdfeld,
Nika Karlina-Petric and Allie Da-
vis earned honorable mention
All-America honors and 10 points
with a time of 7:05.43 in Heat One
of the finals.
It marked the first All-America
honor for all four individuals, and
Purdue's first All-America relay since
2011.
Sheets tied for 16th in the 200
free in Purdue's best individual
showing of the meet. The tie put
her into a swim-off for the final spot
in the consolation final with Cin-
cinnnati's Jackie Keire, where Keire
defeated Sheets by 12 hundredths
of a second.
Despite the swim-off loss,
Sheets time of 1:45.30 was only 14
hundredths off of the Purdue re-
cord she set as the opening leg of
Purdue's 800 free relay team. The
Carmel, Ind., native also competed
in the 200 butterfly, where she fin-
ished 42nd.
Kaersten Meitz, Francesca
Marr, Emily Fogle and Davis repre-
sented Purdue in individual events
as well.
Meitz competed in three
freestyle events: the 200, 500 and
1650. The freshman performed
best in the 500 free, where she fin-
ished in 22nd with a career-best
time of 4:42.39. While she finished
just 45th in the prelims in the 200
free, her time of 1:47.38 was also a
career record in
addition to the
eighth-best time
in school history.
She finished in
34th place in the
1,650 free.
In addition
to swimming the
team-best leg
on the All-Amer
-
ican 800 free re-
lay team, Davis
competed in all
three freestyle
events along
with Meitz. Davis
finished in the
top 30 in the 500
free with a time
of 4:43:30, while finishing tied for
32nd and 33rd in the 200 free and
1650 free, respectively.
Marr qualified for the NCAAs in
the 100 breast and 200 breast, fin-
ishing in the top 50 in both events.
Fogle, who applied for a sixth-
year hardship waiver from the
NCAA and is expected to return for
the 2015-16 season, finished 41st
and 42nd in the 100 breast and
200 breast, respectively, in her third
NCAA appearance but first since
2012.
j
Links
PurdueSports.com: Track and field wraps up Shamrock Invite
PurdueSports.com: Women's golf shares third at MountainView
Collegiate
PurdueSports.com: Boilers clinch series sweep with 6-0 win over
Wisconsin in softball
PurdueSports.com: Situational hitting lacking as Boilers drop
finale in baseball
PurdueSports.com: Boilermakers finish tied for 10th at Linger
Longer Invitational in men's golf
Athlete Event Finish
Mary Beth Dunnichay 1-meter diving 5th (All-American)
3-meter diving 31st
Platform diving 18th
MacKenzie Tweardy Platform diving 12th (honorable
mention All-American)
Kaersten Meitz 500 free 22nd
200 free 45th
1650 free 34th
Allie Davis 500 free 28th
200 free T-32nd
1650 free 33rd
Francesca Marr 200 IM 68th
100 breast 50th
200 breast 39th
Rhiannon Sheets 200 free T-16th
200 fly 42nd
Emily Fogle 100 breast 41st
200 breast 42nd
Purdue
MacKenzie Tweardy earned All-America honors
for the second straight year in platform diving.
