HONOLULU - University of Hawai`i's Nicole Mackey is the only WAC female swimmer heading to next week's 2007 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championship in Minneapolis, Minn., according to the official psyche sheet released by the NCAA today.
Mackey is making her fourth trip to the NCAAs. The senior posted "A" (automatic) qualifying times in the 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke and 200 individual medley (IM).
All three "A" cuts came during the Western Athletic Conference Championship in San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 14-17.
The Newport Beach, Calif., native posted the 20th fastest time in the country in the 100 Back at 54.38 seconds, 26th best time in the 200 Back at 1:57.72 and 16th quickest time in the 200 IM at 2:00.14.
Three other Rainbow Wahine, with "B" (provisional times), just missed the championship.
Seniors Mia Broden, Bache' Atkins and Claudia Barsi fell just fractions of a second off making the meet. Broden's time of 2:00.32 in the 200 butterfly just missed the NCAA cutoff of 2:00.13 in the event. Atkins missed out in both the 200 (1:48.00) and 500 (4:47.58) freestyle events by a combined six-tenths of a second. Barsi fell short in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 16 minutes and 30.14 seconds with the NCAA line drawn at 16:29.28.
Going on this weekend is the Zone E Diving Regional in Oklahoma City, Okla., where UH divers Megan Farrow, Emma Friesen and Raquel Bartlow all have a chance to join Mackey in Minneapolis, Minn., next week.
-UH-