Senior Linda Okonkowski placed 44th in the 200-yard individual medley on the first day of the NCAA DII Championships yesterday.
Okonkowski swam a time of 2:10.55, four seconds slower than the time she swam at the GLIAC conference meet. Head swim coach Kurt Kirner said the 200 IM was “just an off race.”
Okonkowski qualified in three other events at nationals. Today she competes in the 400-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly. Kirner said tomorrow she will compete in her strongest race — the 200-yard butterfly.
“[Okonkowski] did not have a very good swim today,” Kirner said. “It was really her off event. She did get a provisional time, but it wasn’t really her highlighted event. Her next three events will really be much better events for her.”
Kirner said Okonkowski did well in the first leg of the 200 IM — the 50-yard butterfly — but from there “she didn’t have a very good swim.”
“There is no room for error at this level,” he said. “If she would have swam what she swam at GLIACS, she would have been in the top 16 — she would have swam tonight [at finals].”
Kirner said he expects that Okonkowski will do better in her next three events.
“[In] Linda’s fly, she has a pretty good chance,” he said. “She is ninth going in. That should be a good event for her.”
In the 400 IM and 100 fly, she is ranked 17th and 23rd, respectively.
Preliminary races began at 10:30 a.m. this morning.
