July 10, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M women's swimming signee Kendra Chernoff (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) setting a national record in the 100-meter butterfly and Aggie senior Kristen Heiss (Casper, Wyo.) earning a third medal at the World University Games were among the A&M women's swimming highlights worldwide on Friday.
On Friday morning, Chernoff got Canada's attention by breaking Mackenzie Downing's 100 fly national record of 58.88 set Aug. 1, 2007, in Bangkok, Thailand, by going 58.70 during preliminaries at the Canadian world championship trials in Montreal. The senior national record is the first of Chernoff's career. In the championship final of the 100 fly, the soon-to-be Aggie was caught at the wall by 2008 Olympian Audrey Lacroix, 59.40 to 59.48.
In Belgrade, Serbia, Kristen Heiss earned her third medal of the week by placing third in the 200-meter freestyle final for the United States. Heiss shaved a considerable chunk of time off her prior career best of 1:59.43 by hitting the wall in 1:58.77. Heiss out-split the entire World University Games field over the final 100 meters, falling just short of Olympic silver medalist Sara Isakovic of Slovenia (1:58.59) and Kevyn Peterson of Canada (1:58.67). By achieving the bronze, Heiss now has one medal of each color to take back home to the U.S.
Back in Canada, another A&M signee, Tess Simpson (Ingleside, Ontario), ranked as the top qualifier in the 50-meter backstroke after morning prelims. Simpson clocked a time of 29.23 before taking third in the evening final in 29.38.
At the U.S. world championship trials in Indianapolis, Ind., a pair of Aggie freshmen qualified for evening finals on Friday. Freshman Rita Medrano (Aguascalientes, Mexico) qualified for the bonus final of the 200-meter butterfly after going 2:14.88 to rank 20th during prelims. Medrano won the `C' final at night, swimming the second-fastest time in Mexican history at 2:12.53.
Freshman Ella Doerge (Clive, Iowa), 2:19.54, 57th. Freshman Alyssa Conner (Granite Bay, Calif.) also competed on Friday, taking 62nd in the 800-meter freestyle (9:10.71).
All three meets will continue through Saturday.