BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - WKU senior Claire Donahue set a Sun Belt Conference record on her way to a first-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle Thursday night at the Sun Belt Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at Rockwall Aquatics Center of Excellence in Rockwall, Texas.
Donahue recorded a SBC-record time of 22.73 seconds in a 50y freestyle qualifying heat, breaking the previous conference record of 22.99 set by Seabre Pope in 2010. The time is the second fastest is WKU history and represents a NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Classmate Alexandre also finished in the top three with a mark of 23.26.
"(Donahue) swam that event the last three years and has not been able to win it," WKU coach Bruce Marchionda said. "She has gotten second but not been able to win it. For her to get up and improve her time and win, that is pretty special."
After the second day of competition, the Hilltoppers are second in the men's standings with 305.5 points. Denver leads the field with 314 points. On the women's side, North Texas is first with 289 points, followed by Denver (284.5) in second and WKU (263) third.
"I think were in a position that if we get up and swim as well as we are capable of swimming tomorrow that we could make a run," Marchionda said. "And maybe even move ahead of North Texas and close that gap on Denver."
The men's and women's teams also swept the 200-yard freestyle relay to close out the night's competition.
The Lady Toppers quartet of Donahue, Alexandre, Chelsea Stephens and Kristiana Feeser posted a time of 1:32.16 to claim first. Hilltoppers Kevin Knezevich, David Menchinger, Billy Kunkel and Nick Slattery touched in first with a mark of 1:20.43.
Sophomore Alex Van Oost was the top finisher for the Lady Toppers in the 500y freestyle, clocking in with a time of 5:00.72. Samantha Holmes (5:00.73) and Krista Mantay (5:05.00) finished 12th and 15th, respectively.
In the men's 500y freestyle, sophomore Adam Dajka swam a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:25.47 on his way to a second-place finish. Sean Shannon (4:34.09) and David Menchinger (4:34.98) both picked up top eight finishes.
Lady Toppers sophomore Hilary Mishler finished fourth in the 200y individual medley with a time of 2:02.28. Kristiana Feeser also placed in the top five. For the Hilltoppers, Sam Dalton (1:52.19) and Lucas Zelehowsky (1:52.81) placed sixth and seventh, respectively.
In the men's 50y freestyle, Knezevich finished runner up with a mark of 20.63 followed by Billy Kunkel in fourth with a time of 20.68.
In the women's 3-meter diving finals, WKU sophomore Kylie Ruiz and senior Maragaret Stringer finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Caitlin Dean, Shelby Smith, Chelsea Jordan and Elyse Madigan also finished in the top 16.
Friday begins with preliminaries in the 400y individual medley at 11 a.m., followed by the 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and the 100 backstroke. The men's 1-meter preliminaries are scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. The evening session will feature finals in all five events, concluding with the 400 medley relay.
"Tomorrow we are hoping that our depth will play a major factor," Marchionda said. "We are looking for the entire group to step up and everybody contribute. We fell short a couple spots today where we had two people who didn't make it back so our goal tomorrow is to have everybody make it back (to the finals session)."
Live video and results from both sessions Friday will be available here.
