Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
US Short Course Nationals
Szekely Nears Record at Short Course Nationals
November 29, 2012 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Austin, Texas - The Bowling Green State University swim team completed its first day of competition at the USA Swimming AT&T Winter National Championships Thursday, with races in the 200 IM, 50 free and 4x100 medley relay. The highlight of the day was Brittany Szekely setting a career-best time of 23.14 in the 50 free - the second-fastest mark in BGSU history.
Szekely hit that mark swimming in the time trial for the 50 free. Her time is just shy of the school record of 23.09, set by Meg Richardson in 2010. Senior Emily Bennet swam in the prelims of the 50 free, recording a time of 23.36 to finish 41st in a field of the nation's top swimmers.
"We had a great day," said head coach Petra Martin. "Especially because we have been training pretty hard right after the [TYR] Invite and hammering things down over the last couple of days. So we were happy that they put up fast times with so little rest. It's very encouraging."
Alexa Harris also reached a milestone in the 200 IM time trial, swimming her fastest time in two years - 2:04.90. Joëlle Scheps finished 49th in the prelims of the 200 IM, touching in 2:05.12. Bowling Green's 4x100 relay team of Harris, Kain, Szekely and Bennet capped off the day finishing 14th in the final with a time of 3:46.53.
"It's a great atmosphere here," Martin said. "I think they're learning a lot and I'm so excited for them to bring this experience back to the rest of the team and we hope we're going to get even more people here next year."
The competition continues Friday, with BGSU's Szekely and Jordan Bullock racing in the 100 butterfly, Scheps in the 200 free, Harris in the 100 back and Kain in the 100 breast. Harris and Kain are both ranked in their events, with Kain swimming the 37th-fastest time in the 100 breast and Harris the 46th-fastest in the 100 back this year. Both times met the B standard for qualifying to the NCAA Championships later in the season.
For full results from Thursday and future live updates, visit the USA Swimming Website.
