Miller Grabs Silver At USA Winter Nationals

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas sophomore Chelsie Miller placed second in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:08.86 Saturday evening at the 2013 AT&T USA Winter Nationals in Koxville, Tenn.
 
The Houston, Texas native finished second behind Celina Li of California University, when she swam an in-season best time during the Friday finals of the meet. She shaved off four seconds of her preliminary race time of 4:12.49 and was fourth going into the evening races. 
 
“It was a tremendous swim all the way around,” head coach Clark Campbell said. “She had a good morning swim in the prelims to put her in the top eight. She put together four good strokes for the final race and set a new in-season record in the process. Any time you are on the podium at a national championship, it gets everyone excited.”
 
Freshman Yulduz “Yulya” Kuchkarova placed just out of the top 24 in the 100-yard backstroke when she swam a time of 55.08 during the morning session on Friday. In the 100-yard breaststroke, sophomore Bryce Hinde placed 28th (1:03.13), while senior Alison Lusk placed in the top 50 with a time of 1:04.92
 
“It was a good start to the meet,” Campbell said. “There were a lot of nerves because it’s a national championship. All the girls had in-season best times and Bryce was a hundredth of a second off from breaking her personal record.”
 
Campbell wants the girls to finish the meet even stronger tomorrow. Both Kuchkarova and Lusk will be competing in their marquee event tomorrow. Kuchkarova will swim the 200-yard backstroke while Lusk and Hinde will be in the 200-yard breaststroke. Miller will be swimming the 200-yard butterfly.