Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Swimming Team Gears Up for MAC Championships
2/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Marshall Swimming Team Gears Up for MAC Championships
2/26/2003
Milla Kuurto owns the best MAC times in the 100-yard butterfly and the 200 freestyle. |
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio ? The Mid-American Conference will get the opportunity to watch its newest member, Marshall University, compete at the women?s swimming championships at Bowling Green?s Cooper Pool this weekend.
All Thundering Herd fans will be anxious to see how Marshall?s Milla Kuurto (Lohja, Finland) will fair in her biggest meet thus far in her young career. The phenomenal freshman is ranked number one in the MAC with her blazing times in the 100-yard butterfly (55.55) and the 200 freestyle (1:51.79).
Marshall Head Coach Leonard Kraus is confident that Kuurto has adequately prepared to showcase her talents this weekend and beyond.
?Milla?s had a good taper and she?s swimming very fast right now,? Kraus said. ?Our hope is that she?ll finish the MAC season on top and gain good momentum for NCAA?s in the 100 fly, and hopefully another event.?
The conference showdown will be the first MAC championship for the first-year Marshall squad, but one Thundering Herd swimmer has experience in this meet from her days as a Northern Illinois Huskie. Sophomore Erika Nilsson (Haninge, Sweden) transferred to Marshall after her freshman season at NIU, where she placed seventh in the 500 freestyle at the 2002 MAC championships.
Kraus is grateful that he has a swimmer with familiarity of the high-level conference meet.
?She (Nilsson) will be able to ground the team and keep them calm, because she?s been through this before,? Kraus said. ?Our girls are going to be surprised at the intensity level this weekend, so Erika?s knowledge will pay dividends.?
Nilsson is expected to place high in the distance freestyle events, while sophomore Liisa Raty (Espoo, Finland) should contend in the backstroke portion of the competition.
The MAC has scheduled events from Thursday to Saturday, with preliminaries taking place in the mornings and the finals occurring in the evenings. Kuurto will take to the pool in the 100 butterfly on Friday, while Nilsson will swim the 1650 freestyle on Saturday.
Marshall went 5-9 in its first year of competition since a brief stint in 1974, but was unable to notch a MAC victory in 2002-03, going 0-8 in the conference.
