Two Salukis, senior freestyler Bryn Handley and sophomore Sam Parsons, earned an invitation to compete at the USA Swimming Winter National Championships which spanned from Wednesday through Saturday.

The event featured some of the best swimmers the country has to offer, including as many as eight men and women swimmers who competed in the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympic Games. Two male swimmers notably earned gold medals in the summer of 2016.

Handley competed in the 1,650-yard freestyle event and placed eighth in a 16:32.00 time, her best of the year.

Her best time of the season was not enough to earn Handley a trip to the 2017-18 National Championships, as she fell a second and a half short of the NCAA B time standard for qualification.

Parsons competed in the 200-yard breaststroke preliminary event and finished 26th overall, which was only fractions of a second short of qualification for the C Final. She swam the event with a time of 2:17.79.

All SIU swimmers and divers will now freeze competition as winter break awaits. The team resumes competition January 13th, where the women will travel to Little Rock, Arkansas to compete against the Arkansas-Little Rock for a Saturday meet.

Sports writer Ryan Demer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at  @RyanDemer_DE 
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