Two swimmers earn All-Conference status on day two of PCSC Championship
February 15, 2013
Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
Two Alaska women's swimmers finished in the top eight of their respective races to earn All-Conference status on day two of the 2013 Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championship at the La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center.
Junior Bente Heller (Hamburg, Germany/Communication) took fourth in the championship final of the 50 freestyle with an NCAA B-cut time of 23.81 seconds, which was just three tenths-of-a-second behind UC San Diego's Olivia Fountain, who won the event in 23.51. During preliminaries, Heller qualified sixth in 23.93.
Sophomore Gabi Summers also earned All-PCSC accolades in the 500 free after clocking a time of 5:09.64, good for seventh place in the championship final. In her qualifying race, she was fifth with a season-best and NCAA B-cut time of 5:07.51.
Sophomore Danielle Lyons (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan/Biological sciences) placed 13th in the consolation final of the 200 individual medley in a season's fastest mark of 2:09.15, which was three spots better than her qualification race (2:10.58). Freshman Eileen Audette (Seward, Alaska/Fisheries) was 20th (24.72) in a 50 free consolation while sophomore Kelly Meierotto (North Pole, Alaska/Anthropology) was 36th (25.37) in the same event as both turned in season-best times.
Six other Nanooks registered season-best performances on the second day of the four-day meet.
On the relay side, the tandem of Audette, K. Meierotto, sophomore Genevieve Johnson (Fresno, Calif./Fisheries) and Summers was tenth in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:41.11.
Alaska sits in ninth place of 13 teams that have scored following Thursday's action with 209.5 points. In swimming-only events, the Nanooks' point total ranks sixth in scoring among the 13 teams. Defending champions UC San Diego maintains a large lead with 644 points, followed by Fresno Pacific (346) in second, Cal State East Bay in third (332.5) and Pepperdine in fourth (332).
Day three of the championship will commence Friday morning at 8 a.m. (AKST).
NOTE: The team points have diving scores included. Alaska, Biola, Cal State East Bay, Olivette Nazarene, Simon Fraser and Soka do not field divers for the championship.