March 21, 2009

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Ohio University junior Chelsey Bower rounded out her first appearance at the NCAA Swimming Championships, hosted by Texas A&M University, Saturday with a 51st-place finish in the 100 freestyle. Bower (Bethel Park, Pa.) became the first Bobcat to compete at the NCAA Championships since Kim van Selm qualified in 2001.

Bower stopped the clock in 49.92 during her preliminary heat, tying with Virginia Tech's Steff Drechsel for 51st of 68 swimmers. She was a bit off her school-record and qualifying time of 49.16, which entered her in the race as the 41st seed. Bower was one of just seven swimmers from mid-major conferences in the race, as she finished ahead of two of them, including Miami's Alyson Schmidt, who placed 55th in 50.09 and was the only other swimmer in the race from the Mid-American Conference.

"One of our goals was to swim a lifetime best, and obviously we fell a little bit short of that, but all in all we were pretty happy," Ohio head coach Greg Werner said. "We made a couple tactical errors with breathing and Chelsey paid the price for that coming home (over the final 50), but she has to get used to that if she wants to be back here next year and swimming in the finals. While it didn't pay off today, we feel it will be quite beneficial for the future."

Bower, a 2009 First-Team All-MAC selection, did not qualify for Saturday night's finals. California's Dana Vollmer claimed the 100 free NCAA title in 47.17.

The 2009 Academic All-MAC honoree also swam in the 50 free Thursday at the NCAA Championships, where she finished 35th of 63 in 22.58, one-tenth off her school-record time, and improved her seeding three spots. The NCAA Championships, held at the Aggies' Student Recreation Center Natatorium, ran from Thursday, March 19 through today (March 21).

"Chelsey's been a delight to be with all year, but especially this week because she realized that, not only can she compete at this level, but her teammates can too," Werner said. "She's been saying it over and over all week `we can definitely do that or our relay team could be in here swimming right now,' so she's coming home with confidence and that will spread to her teammates and will only lead to great things in the future."