July 30, 2008

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - UC Santa Barbara swimmer Katy Freeman took bronze in the 200-meter breaststroke at the 2008 U.S. Open on Tuesday evening at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minn. The Gaucho senior touched the wall at 2:28.74 in the final, beating out her prelim time of 2:29.68 by almost a second and topping her time from Olympic Trials (2:29.49).

Sophomore Sara Nicponski also competed in the 200 breaststroke and qualified for the finals with a time of 2:35.55 and finished 23rd overall, touching the wall in 2:35.57.

Junior Chris Wiggin competed in the 200 fly and finished 28th in the prelims with a time of 2:04.51 and senior Erin Yamamoto also swam in the event, finishing 45th on the women's side with a time of 2:21.95.

The U.S. Open serves as the selection meet for the 2009 World University Games, to be held from July 2-7, 2009 in Belgrade, Serbia. The highest placing athlete in each event who will be enrolled as a full-time university student through Jan. 1, 2009 will be invited to the World University Games Team. Freeman can make the team if the first and second place finishers are unavailable to compete in 2009.

The meet continues today and will run through Saturday, August 2.