Saarnak Participates in European Aquatics Championships
Aug. 6, 2010
Coral Gables, Fla. – Annika Saarnak, a rising senior for the University of Miami swim team, is set to participate in this year’s LEN European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Saarnak will begin her meter-style course events on Wed., Aug. 11, running through Aug. 15.
Saarnak will be representing her home country of Estonia, already owning the nation’s fastest time in the 100-meter freestyle, set during the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Istanbul, Turkey in December 2009. She posted a time of 54.78 seconds in the finals of that event. In yard measurement, Saarnak’s time equates to a new personal-best performance with a time of 48.90 seconds.
Once again, Saarnak will be participating in short course events for Estonia, with Puhaleda being her home city in the country.
“I’m really proud of her,” said Shefchunas. “She’s been training hard all summer, and I’m excited to see what she does. This is definitely getting our program more international attention.”
Throughout the 2009-10 campaign for the `Canes, Saarnak held the top seven times in the 50 yard freestyle, in addition to the top six fastest marks in the 100 freestyle. In the 200 freestyle, Saarnak held the top seven fastest times, and held two of the top five times in the 100 butterfly.
Saarnak served as leadoff for all of the top times in all three relay events for the `Canes. Those included the 200-, 400- and 800 yard freestyle.
During the latter stages of the season at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saarnak achieved NCAA “B” cut qualifying time in the 100 freestyle, as she turned in a time of 50.16 in the finals. For Saarnak, the time was her second consecutive NCAA “B” cut time, also claiming a provisional qualifying time in 2009.
First-year UM assistant swim coach Shaun Zitani will accompany Saarnak to Budapest for the event.
The European Aquatics Championships is organized by the LEN, the governing body for aquatics in Europe. Since 1999, they have included 4 aquatics disciplines: swimming (long course/50m pool), diving, synchronized swimming and open water swimming. Since 2000, they have been held biennially, in even-numbered years.
The Championships are generally held over a two-week period in mid-to-late summer. However, in the two most recent Summer Olympics years (2004 and 2008), the Championships were moved to the spring to be moved away from the Olympics. The swimming portion of these championships is considered one of the premier swimming competitions in the world.
You can follow all University of Miami Hurricanes athletics on Twitter by visiting http://api.twitter.com/hurricanesports.
For more information on the University of Miami swimming & diving team, please log on to www.hurricanesports.com. Once there, you will find up-to-date news, results and information regarding the Hurricanes swimming & diving program.
