Nov. 21, 1999

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Carrying over her success from Saturday, Anna Christiansen helped lead the Fighting Illini to a third-place finish out of 14 teams on the final day of the Minnesota Invite.

The junior scored a win in the 200 breast with a time of 2:34.39, which was a quaifying time for the 2000 Olympic Trials. Christiansen previously qualified for the trials in the 400 IM over the summer. Also qualifying with short-course meter times, sophomore Jessica Aveyard won the 200 back, in 2:14.00. Other Illini with qualifying times included sophomore Jen Peters (17:01) and senior Kelly Handel (17:08) in the 1650 free and senior Traci Bollinger (56.28) in the first leg of the 400 free relay. Taking second in the 100 free, Bollinger came close to a NCAA qualifying standard with a time of 56.41.

"It was a great weekend for us, and it was good to get those qualifying times," Head Coach Jim Lutz.

Bollinger's 56.28 paced Illinois to a second-place finish in the 400 free relay with senior Emily Wang, senior Marcie Black and junior Allison Olech. Senior Natasha Messmer took fourth in the 200 fly, in 2:17.42 and freshman Alison Cmarko finished sixth in the 200 back with a time of 2:17.80.

With 847points, host Minnesota earned the team title with Wisconsin coming in second, totalling 695.50 points.

UI is back in action Dec. 3-4 for the Illinois Invite at IMPE Pool.

Minnesota Invite Final Day Results