WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Junior Meredith Budner has qualified for the championship final in the 500-yard freestyle event at the 2010 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships at Purdue University on Thursday afternoon.

Budner, who is seeded seventh in the event, will compete in the championship final during Thursday’s evening session, which begins at 7 p.m.

“Meredith had a great race this morning and was less than a second from being the top seed for tonight,” Towson Coach Pat Mead said. “For the second year in a row, she is drawing a lot of conversation among the coaches and swimmers on the deck.”

A three-time Colonial Athletic Association champion in the 500-yard freestyle event, Budner posted a time of 4:39.51, breaking her own school and CAA records. She finished 35th in the event at last year’s NCAA Meet.

Senior Lauren Boyle of the University of California posted the top time in the 500-yard freestyle preliminaries, finishing the event in 4 minutes, 38.72 seconds.

Budner, who is the first Towson female swimmer to qualify for the NCAA Championships twice, will also compete in the 400-yard individual medley and the 1650-yard freestyle during the three-day event.