By Blake Dowson
The Iowa women’s swimming and diving team fell one spot to tenth in the standings after day two of competition at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The Hawkeyes, who have accumulated 135.5 points through seven events, trail leader Michigan by 288 points.
The bright spot of the day was junior Emma Sougstad, who set a school record in the prelims of the 200-IM. The Forest City, Iowa native swam to a 1:57.62 finish to qualify herself for the “A” final of the event, where she tied for sixth place.
The Hawkeyes swam to a tenth place finish in the 200-freestyle relay. The team of Sougstad, and sophomores Meghan Lavelle, Mekenna Scheitlin, and Carly O’Brien touched in 1:31.84.
Senior Serena Wanasek swam to the seventh-fastest time in school history in the 500-freestyle prelims, touching the wall in 4:56.05. Wanasek did not qualify for the finals of the event.
The Hawkeye women had 10 swimmers competing in the 50-freestyle prelims, but all 10 failed to reach the finals of the event.
Senior Olivia Kabacinski was the top finisher in the event for Iowa, missing the “C” final by only .17 seconds, swimming the 50 yards in 23.26.
Just behind Kabacinski was Lavelle, who finished in 23.27. Scheitlin was the next-closest Hawkeye, finishing in 23.41, followed by O’Brien, junior Taylor Flummerfelt, sophomore Tereysa Lehnertz, freshman Kelly McNamara, senior Jennifer Weigand, sophomore Jo Jekel, and sophomore Shea Hoyt.
Junior Lydia Lehnert found herself on the wrong side of qualifying in the 1-meter diving event, finishing prelims in 28th place with a score of 244.35. The top 24 finishers in prelims qualify for the finals.
Junior Calli Head finished the event in 37th place with a score of 231.20, followed by sophomore Morgan Rafferty in 44th place with a score of 221.45. Freshman Jacintha Thomas and senior Samantha Wagner rounded out the field for the Hawkeyes, finishing in 51st in 52nd, respectively.
The Hawkeyes will be back in action Friday morning for the prelims of the 400-IM, 100-butterfly, 200-freestyle, 100-breaststroke, 100-backstroke, and 3-meter diving.
Sougstad has posted the fourth fastest time in the conference in the 100-breast, and will look to give her team a boost in the standings by qualifying for her second final of the Championships.
Lavelle will look to qualifying for the finals in the 100-back, where she has the ninth-fastest time in the Big Ten heading into competition tomorrow morning, and McNamara will try to make a final in the 100-fly in her Big Ten Championship debut for the Hawkeyes. The freshman holds the ninth-fastest time in the event.
The finals of all six events will be held on Friday night, as well as the 400-medley relay final.
Follow @B_Dows4 for Iowa swimming news, updates and analysis.
