Stevens Takes Third in 100 Back at NCAA Championships
3/17/2017 8:40:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving, Swimming & Diving
INDIANAPOLIS – Junior Hannah Stevens (Lexington, Ohio) finished third in the 100 back to highlight five top eight finishes for the Mizzou women's swimming and diving team during day three action Friday at the 2017 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI. With one day of competition remaining, Missouri sits in 11-place with 116 points.
Four other Tigers and a relay joined Stevens with first team All-American finishes on Friday. Seniors Nadine Laemmler (Wackersdorf, Bavaria, Germany) and Katharine Ross (Des Moines, Iowa) and junior Sharli Brady (Burlington, Kentucky) also placed in the top eight, as did the 200 medley relay.
With her third-place finish in the 100 back, Stevens becomes only the second female Tiger swimmer to place in the top three at NCAAs, joining former Mizzou great and 2016 Canadian Olympian Dominique Bouchard, who earned two second-place and one third-place finishes in the 200 back.
"That was our best day ever, with all the top eight swims," Mizzou Head Coach Greg Rhodenbaugh said. "We had more finalists than any other team except Stanford tonight, so we really moved up. We're already almost 100 points over what they projected us to do. Hopefully this gives us momentum going into tomorrow."
Stevens touched the wall in a personal-best 50.57 in the 100 back final to take third, while Laemmler took seventh in the same event after a finals swim of 51.13. Laemmler matched her finish from the 2017 Championships for the second individual first team All-America honor of her career, while Stevens claimed her first individual first team accolade after honorable mention finishes her freshman and sophomore seasons.
An eighth-place finish in the 100 breast from Ross solidified her fourth career All-America, including her second-straight first team honor. She clocked a 59.05 in finals after a season-best swim of 59.00 in prelims to earn her spot in the championship final. Ross earned honorable mention honors in the event as a freshman and sophomore and took fourth as a junior a year ago.
Brady took home seventh in the 400 IM to claim first team All-America honors for the first time in her career. The junior, who earned honorable mention honors as a freshman in 2015, clocked a school record 4:05.22 in finals to take seventh overall.
Missouri broke its 200 medley relay school record twice on the day, ending with a 1:35.88 in finals as Laemmler, Ross, sophomore Maddie Gehrke (Clive, Iowa) and Stevens touched eighth for the Tigers' third-consecutive top eight finish in the relay.
In the diving well, redshirt senior Lauren Reedy (Rochester Hills, Michigan) won her second consolation final in as many days as she took ninth on the 3-meter springboard. She notched 352.15 points to win the consolation final and claim the third honorable mention All-America accolade of her Tiger career.
The 2017 Championships conclude on Saturday, March 10 with swimming prelims at 10 a.m. ET and diving prelims at 12:15 p.m. ET.
NCAA Championships Day Three Results
400 IM
7. Sharli Brady (4:05.22 finals, 4:06.00 prelims)
40. Ellie Suek (4:14.37)
100 Fly
31. Erin Metzger-Seymour (52.67)
200 Free
44. Kira Zubar (1:47.31)
100 Breast
8. Katharine Ross (59.05 finals, 59.00 prelims)
100 Back
3. Hannah Stevens (50.57 finals, 50.61 prelims)
7. Nadine Laemmler (51.13 finals, 50.96 prelims)
29. Haley Hynes (52.67)
50. Jennifer King (54.14)
3-Meter Diving
9. Lauren Reedy (352.15 Finals, 315.75 prelims)
200 Medley Relay
8. Laemmler, Ross, Gehrke, Stevens (1:35.88 finals, 1:36.17 prelims)
Players Mentioned
