The Road to Irvine: Miller Claims Two Titles at Sectional Meet

Kansas’ first Big 12 champion Chelsie Miller doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, as she captured a pair of event titles at the Speedo Championship Series sectional meet earlier this week.

The rising junior opened the meet in Shenandoah, Texas on Tuesday winning the first event, the 800-meter freestyle, in a time of 8:57.37. Miller came back on Thursday to win the 400-meter individual medley with a personal-best time of 4:47.80.

Competing for FLEET Aquatics under coach Jack Madden, Miller’s 400-meter IM time now ranks her among the top-15 Americans in that event. That swim, in addition to a 15-second drop from her seed time in the 800-meter freestyle, will give Miller a lead on competition going into the USA Swimming National Championship in Irvine, Calif., August 6-10. There, she will be swimming the 200 and 400-meter individual medley, the 200-meter butterfly and 800-meter freestyle.

“We’re really excited with how Chelsie has progressed this summer,” Kansas head coach Clark Campbell said. “She’s been performing at a really high level which will set her up well for a good national championship. After winning both the 400 IM and 800-meter freestyle in the Shenandoah Sectional this weekend, we’re really looking forward to see how she performs in Irvine.”

Miller is finished competing at the sectional meet and will resume training for the USA National Championship. Her first event will be the 200-meter butterfly on August 6. Live results can be found on USAswimming.org.

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