Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
at Western Kentucky Invitational
Herd Finishes Second at WKU Hilltopper Invitational
11/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Nov. 23, 2006
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Junior Michaela Sceli (LaSalle, Ontario/St. Thomas of Villanova) was victorious in the 100-yard breaststroke and later finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke to help lead the Marshall Thundering Herd to a second-place finish at the Western Kentucky Hilltopper Invitational.
Sceli finished three-hundredths of a second off her season-best time in the 100, touching the pad at 1:06.98. Freshman Linea Bonfils (Copenhagen, Denmark/Sankt Annae) finished second with a season-best time of 1:08.64. Sceli and Bonfils finished 1-2 in both the prelims and finals of the 100-yard breaststroke.
Sceli later finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:26.56 after taking the top time during the prelims. Ally Melinsky (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) finished fifth in the 200 finals with a time of 2:28.36.
Junior co-captain Ashley McIlvain (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood) recorded a pair of third-place finishes during the three-day invitational. McIlvain registered a time of 5:13.76 in the 500-yard freestyle, while tapping the pad at 17:42.60 in the 1650-yard freestyle.
"We had a solid meet with quite a few career bests and even more season-best times," Marshall women's swimming and diving head coach Leonard Kraus said. "Going 1-2 in the 100-yard breaststroke was a highlight of the meet in addition to our best times."
Freshman Kristin Wheatley (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North), who came in second during the 200-yard IM prelims, finished sixth in the finals with a time of 2:13.84. She later finished third in the 400-yard IM finals, with a season-best time of 4:40.37. Wheatley's third-place time of 2:13.32 in the 200-yard butterfly finals was also a season best.
Lauren Ford (St. Albans, W.Va./Nitro) finished second in the 400-yard IM with a season-best time of 4:36.03.
Freshman duo Julia Petzka (Muelheim, Germany/Riverton) and Erin Kennedy (Simpsonville, S.C./Mauldin) finished fifth (1:01.52) and sixth (1:01.91), respectively, in the 100-yard backstroke finals.
On the boards, Siobhan Schuurman (Edmonton, Alberta/Ross Sheppard) finished second in the one-meter event (2:12.05), while finishing third in the three-meter boards (220.00). Rachel Hannum (Point Pleasant, W.Va./Point Pleasant) finished fifth in the three-meter finals with a score of 164.70.
"I thought our backstrokers and IMers also made nice strides. Siobhan (Schuurman) and Rachel (Hannum) once again had strong diving performances with Rachel scoring for the first time in a championship meet format. I look for both of them to do extremely well at Miami in two weeks."
The Marshall Thundering Herd returns to action next week when it participates in the Miami Invitational Thurs., Nov. 30-Sat., Dec. 2 in Oxford, Ohio.
