March 20, 2008

Day One Preliminary Results (PDF Format)

Day One Finals Results (PDF Format)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Northwestern qualified for three swims during Thursday evening's finals session at the NCAA Championships, earning All-America honors in a pair of individual events and the 200 free relay to finish the day 22nd in the team standings. The day marked the first time NU scored points in three different events on day one of the Championships in eight years.

The Wildcats currently have 15 points as a team, five points behind Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara, which are tied for 20th overall. Northwestern already has scored more points as a team than it has since finishing sixth in the nation in 2000.

In the 200 free relay, the team of Andrea Hupman (Lawrenceville, Ga./Brookwood), Teisha Lightbourne (Nassau, Bahamas/Peddie School (N.J.)), Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen) and Emily Wong (Nepean, Ontario/St. David's) kicked off Northwestern's NCAA championships by earning honorable mention All-America honors, qualifying for the consolation final with a time of 1:30.51. The squad ended up 16th overall during the evening swim with a 1:31.31.

The relay became the first to score points for Northwestern since the 800 free relay in 2001.

Freshman Ellen Grigg (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School) turned in one of the most impressive swims in recent Northwestern history in the prelims of the 500 free, shattering her own school record in the event by more than two full seconds to finish seventh with a 4:41.82. She then took eighth during the finals with an evening swim of 4:43.10.

Grigg is Northwestern's first first-team All-America honoree since 2000.

Sophomore Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School) finished just outside of the points in the 500 free, taking 19th place during the prelims with a time of 4:44.98

Hupman qualified for the consolation final of the 50 free for Northwestern, swimming a 22.38 in the morning to tie for 11th place before turning in a 22.67 in the evening to take 15th overall in the event. The honorable mention All-America accolade is the fourth of her career in an individual event and her fifth overall after picking up the honor earlier in the day with the 200 free relay.

Wong competed in the 50 free, coming in 57th with a time of 23.26, while Lightbourne was in 60th with a 23.33.

Note: The NCAA is not allowing Ohio State to provide html results to schools, so the only available results are the .pdf's at the top of this page.