Kansas
The second day of competition at the Big Challenge shared a striking resemblance to the first, as 13 additional meet records were taken down along with season-best performances from a variety of Kansas Jayhawks, including NCAA top-10 swims from Chelsie Miller and Yulya Kuchkarova, inside Capitol Federal Natatorium Saturday. The Big 12 closed in on the Big Ten's lead in the conference competition, now trailing 1,193 to 970. The Mid Major duo is in third with 237 points.
Four different squads of the six competing this weekend have contributed to lowering at least one meet record through two days of competition. The Jayhawks led the charge Saturday, earning four meet records including a top-10 national mark by Kuchkarova in the 100-yard backstroke and a top-five national mark from Chelsie Miller in the 400-yard individual medley. After 12 events Nebraska leads the individual standings with 689.6 points, with Kansas (589), Illinois (503.5), Iowa State (381), Northern Iowa (145) and Nebraska-Omaha (92) following.
"Today was a really good day for us," said head Coach Clark Campbell. "The team really rose to the challenge. Everyone got a second swim tonight, which I was really pleased with and a lot of them swam faster than they did in the morning. So many good things from the first relay to the last relay."
26847 Yulya Kuchkarova
Career performances from KU's international duo Kuchkarova and Pia Pavlic in the 100-yard backstroke highlighted the final individual event of the night. Kuchkarova, a Tashkent, Uzbekistan native lowered the third Kansas meet record in Saturday's finals session with a time of 53.09, an NCAA B standard and the seventh-fastest swim in the country entering the weekend.
"Yulduz was great," Campbell said. "That time will probably get invited to the NCAA's, that was a big swim. It was her lifetime best by a lot and a tremendous race."
Pavlic, who seems to have begun to show favor to the pool in Topeka, recorded a personal all-time record in the 100 back for the second consecutive year. The Medvode, Slovenia product registered a time of 56.29 during prelims, improving last year's time by more than a second. She went on to better her mark once again in the B finals, swimming a 56.00.
Saturday evening's first race was just a preview of an eventful finals session. Kansas' A relay re-wrote the 200-yard medley relay meet record on its way to a hard fought victory. The relay consisting of Kuchkarova, Bryce Hinde, Pavlic and Haley Bishop, out-touched Nebraska's A relay by four-hundredths of a second and registered a season-best time of 1:41.32.
Miller made it back-to-back Kansas meet records with her dominating performance in the 400-yard individual medley. Miller led her competition by half of a pool length as the All-American turned in a time of 4:12.71, her second NCAA B standard mark of the weekend and fifth-fastest time in the nation entering the weekend.
Topeka was well represented in the 200-yard freestyle with two natives performing season-best races. Haley Molden finished third in the A final with a mark of 1:49.41 behind Illinois' Gabbie Stecker (1:48.70) and Nebraska's Katt Sickle (1:49.11), all three of their times lowered the previous meet record set by Molden in 2012. Sammie Schurig led the way in the B final as KU took the top three times with just .21 seconds separating them. Schurig registered a time of 1:50.66 with Nika Fellows (1:50.77) and Breonna Barker (1:50.87) claiming the other two spots.
The Pocisk sisters tacked on two more Jayhawk season-best times in the 100-yard breaststroke. Gretchen Pocisk took second in the B final registering a time of 1:04.29, while sister Lydia took fifth in the A final (1:03.44).
The Jayhawks saved enough energy to finish the night with a dominating performance in the 800-yard freestyle relay, carving up yet another meet record with a time of 7:17.90. Bishop, the leadoff swimmer, registered a lifetime-best split (1:48.98). The freshman was joined by Molden, Schurig and Miller.
"It was a really good way to end the evening," Clark said. "That 800 free relay is really good. To have these swims in November is exciting to see and be a part of. I can't wait to see what this team is going to do in February and March."
Kansas will conclude competition Sunday, with prelims at 9 a.m. and finals at 3 p.m. inside Capitol Federal Natatorium in Topeka.
Nebraska
Nebraska’s swimmers continued competition at the Big Challenge Saturday morning and evening. On day two, the Huskers were led by Taryn Collura and Jordan Ehly with each of them earning victories for NU. Nebraska remains in first-place with 689.5 points. Kansas trails the Huskers with 589 points, with Illinois following with 503.5 points.
Nebraska began Saturday evening’s session with a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Jacqueline Juffer, Ehly, Erin Oeltjen and Collura finished in a time of 1:41.36
Anna McDonald and Samantha Hardewig led the way for Nebraska in the 400-yard individual medley. McDonald finished in second-place swimming a career-best time of 4:21.48, while Hardewig finished in third-place in a career-best time of 4:21.84.
400-Yard Individual Medley
2. Anna McDonald – 4:21.48 (Career Best)
3. Samantha Hardewig – 4:21.84 (Career Best)
8. Jordan Ehly – 4:25.16
9. Julia Roller – 4:25.57 (Season Best)
10. Bridget Pacilio – 4:25.97 (Career Best)
14. Brooke Holmes – 4:29.30
16. Michaela Cunningham – 4:34.19
17. Aimee Fischer – 4:25.87 (Career Best)
Collura picked up a victory in the 100-yard butterfly for Nebraska. Collura swam a season-best time of 53.62 to earn the crown. Nebraska swept the top-three spots with Deveaux (54.30) and Dana Posthuma (54.45) claiming second and third, respectively, after swimming career-best times.
100-Yard Butterfly
1. Taryn Collura – 53.62 (Season Best)
2. Bria Deveaux – 54.30 (Career Best)
3. Dana Posthuma – 54.45 (Career Best)
6. Erin Oeltjen – 54.92 (Career Best)
19. Lindsay Helferich – 57.51
24. Alexandra Bilunas – 1:00.81
In the 200-yard freestyle, Katt Sickle picked up a second-place finish swimming a career-best time of 1:49.11. Cassie Brassard also had a strong showing in the event swimming a time of 1:50.85 earning a seventh-place finish.
200-Yard Freestyle
2. Katt Sickle – 1:49.11 (Career Best)
7. Cassie Brassard – 1:50.85
14. Kaylyn Flatt – 1:52.84
15. Julia Roller – 1:53.29
Jordan Ehly and Katie Ditter led Nebraska in the 100-yard breaststroke. Ehly captured a first-place finish swimming a time of 1:02.81, while Ditter finished in third-place with a time of 1:02.94. Hardewig (1:05.49) and Posthuma (1:05.85) also swam career-bests in the 100-yard breaststroke.
100-Yard Breaststroke
1. Jordan Ehly – 1:02.82
3. Katie Ditter – 1:02.94
15. Krista Van Wie – 1:05.39
18. Samantha Hardewig - 1:05.49 (Career Best)
19. Dana Posthuma – 1:05.85 (Career Best)
27. Michaela Cunningham – 1:08.14
Jacqueline Juffer notched a second-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke swimming a time of 54.99. Morgan McCafferty was also a strong performer for the Huskers swimming a time of 55.29 earning third-place. Helferich (57.21), Jeschke (57.50) and Oeltjen (56.13) all swam season best times Saturday evening in the event.
100-Yard Backstroke
2. Jacqueline Juffer – 54.99
3. Morgan McCafferty -55.29
5. Erin Oeltjen – 56.13 (Season Best)
6. Cassie Brassard – 56.15
14. Anna McDonald – 57.35
17. Lindsay Helferich – 57.21 (Season Best)
18. Jacqueline Jeschke – 57.50 (Season Best)
Nebraska finished off Saturday evening’s events with a strong showing in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The team of Collura, Brassard, Deveaux and Sickle swam a time of 7:19.77 earning a second-place finish.
Nebraska’s swimmers will be back in action Sunday morning at 9 a.m. to begin the final day of the Big Challenge. Prelims will begin in the morning with finals following at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
Iowa State
Personal records and top times from this season continued to fall for the Iowa State swimmers in day two of the Big Challenge.
Mirroring the number from the first day of competition, the Cyclones combined to post 13 more personal records and bring their two-day total to 26. Iowa State also racked up 40 season-best times in individual events throughout the day, bringing the two-day total for that superlative to 76.
The Iowa State divers, who finished 1-2-6 on one-meter boards on the first day of the KU Dive Invite, again dominated the competition on the three-meter board by taking first, second and eighth on day two. Senior captain Elyse Brouillette took home first place with a day-long total of 528.40 points, followed by junior Julie Dickinson with mark of 498.50. Freshman Maggie James totaled 401.30 points on the day.
After setting 39 season-best times and 13 personal records in day one of the Big Challenge, Iowa State started day two without missing a beat. The Cyclones set 27 season-best finishes in the prelim heats alone, including nine personal records.
Sophomore Mary Kate Luddy set career-bests in both events she competed in during prelims, despite the fact that they were in back-to-back events. After clocking in at 4:31.69 in the 400 IM, Luddy was back in the pool to swim the 100 butterfly in 55.59 on less than 20 minutes of rest.
Senior Kaylee Kucera ended the morning session in style for the Cyclones, claiming victory in a swim-off of the 100 backstroke for the 16th and final scoring position of the event in the finals. Kucera tied Nebraska’s Lindsay Helferich with a prelim time of 57.55 and used a strong final push in the swim-off to edge out the win by 0.19 seconds. With the win, Kucera improved to 4-0 all-time in swim-offs.
The Cyclones tallied seven top-10 finishes across day two’s prelim events and of the 29 Iowa State entries, 26 qualified for finals.
Iowa State claimed four of the top-13 times in 400 IM finals, led by sophomore Kasey Roberts, who took fifth place with a time of 4:22.45, the 10th-fastest mark in ISU history. Engel finished in sixth, clocking in at 4:22.45 for the No. 12 time in school history.
Junior Silqi Luo took fifth place in the 200 freestyle, besting her career-high set in prelims by 0.35 seconds. Luo’s new personal record (1:50.27) trims 1.75 seconds from her time entering the day. Fellow junior Karyl Clarete finished close behind Luo, clocking in at 1:50.98 for an eighth-place finish.
Roberts claimed Iowa State’s highest event finish of the day, touching in 1:03.09 in the 100 breaststroke to take fourth place. Following Roberts in the 100 backstroke, Engel, sophomore Harper Emswiler and Kucera finished 2-4-5 in the ‘B’ heat to round out another great day of individual performances.
To cap off the night, Iowa State’s ‘B’ and ‘A’ 800 freestyle relay squads both finished in the top-eight, earning times of 7:31.70 and 7:44.30, respectively.
