Kansas swimming and diving capped off an impressive dual season with a strong outing against conference foe, Iowa State, topping the Cyclones, 172.5-127.5, to earn their first victory in Ames and Beyer Pool in the last six years.
Saturday's win marked Kansas' third consecutive wining weekend to finish and the Jayhawks closed the 2015-16 dual slate with a 9-4 record. Kansas' winning record marks back-to-back seasons with nine wins and the sixth time since the inception of the Big 12 that KU has tallied more than eight victories.
"Today was really good," head coach Clark Campbell said. "We haven't performed well on the Saturday session of this meet in a number of years and I was really pleased with how they came out today. Everyone came out strong and ready to compete which was great to see after yesterday's swim."
Kansas picked up right where it left off after the first day of competition Friday night with a competitive performance from freshman Breonna Barker in the 100-yard freestyle. Barker registered her best dual time of the season with a swim of 51.95 to clinch first place, ahead of Iowa State's Silgi Luo (53.10).
The Cyclones claimed the next two races with wins from Marissa Engel in the 200-yard backstroke (2:02.92) and Kasey Roberts in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:18.89). Yulya Kuchkarova (2:03.60) and Madison Straight (2:04.43) rounded out the top-three in the 200 back. In the 200 breast, Kansas junior Gretchen Pocisk turned in a third-place finish, behind Roberts and Bryce Hinde (2:21.70), swimming a season-best dual time of 2:22.94.
Chelsie Miller and Libby Walker battled head-to-head in the 500-yard freestyle with Miller (5:00.67) out-touching Walker (5:01.15) by five-hundredths of a second to record the win and give KU a comfortable lead in the team score.
The Jayhawks followed up with a sweep in the 100-yard butterfly led by freshman Haley Bishop who turned in a time of 55.62. Pia Pavlic (56.18) and Leah Pfitzer (58.74) closed out the top three times of the race.
KU didn't only perform well between the lane lines, but Nadia Khechfe had a Zone qualifying dive in the one-meter competition with a score of 269.55. Khechfe ended the day in fourth place with Graylyn Jones (263.25) and Amanda Maser (209.25) placing fifth and sixth, respectively. Iowa State senior Elyse Brouillette won the event with a school-record 322.20 on Senior Day, after also winning the three-meter competition Friday.
Roberts went on to registered her second win of the day, and third victory of the meet, for ISU in the 200-yard individual medley swimming a 2:04.52. The sophomore led the rest of the pool by three seconds with Pavlic taking second (2:07.52).
Kansas sealed the victory with a dominating swim in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The 'A' relay consisting of Bishop, Haley Molden, Barker and Kuchkarova finished in 3:29.46, three seconds ahead of Iowa State's 'A' team.
After a two-week hiatus from competition, the Jayhawks and Cyclones will head to Austin, Texas, for the Big 12 Championships at the Jamail Swimming Center Feb. 24-27.
Iowa State
Senior Elyse Brouillette put an exclamation point on the Iowa State swimming and diving team’s 2015-16 regular season by setting a school record in one-meter diving against Kansas Saturday morning.
The competition was the second half of a split dual between the Cyclones and Jayhawks. While Kansas emerged with a 172.5-127.5 victory in the team score, Iowa State had a myriad of strong performances across the pool.
Saturday morning served as Senior Day for the Cyclones, who honored the contributions of their six seniors prior to the meet. Each member of the senior class – comprised of Elyse Brouillette, Marissa Engel, Alex Flatness, Kaylee Kucera, Mollie McNeel and Shahar Silberman – was given a framed swim suit, cap and goggles.
Iowa State opened the meet with Silqi Luo claiming second place in the 100 freesytle, touching in 53.10 seconds.
Engel followed that up with a come-from-behind victory in the 200 backstroke. Entering the final 50 yards, Engel trailed Kansas’ top backstroker, Yulduz Kuchkarova, by nearly 0.5 seconds. Engel out-swam Kuchkarova by 1.16 seconds in the last 50 yards to take the Cyclones’ first victory of the day.
Kasey Roberts then made it back-to-back wins for Iowa State, taking first place in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:18.89.
Nearing the end of a career that already ranked as one of the greatest in team history, Brouillette added on to her Cyclone legacy by setting a new Iowa State record on the one-meter board. The Omaha, Nebraska, native beat Jessica Henderson’s old mark by 7.80 points with a score of 322.20 points.
“I think that was pretty huge for her. She’s deservedly very excited and happy,” said diving coach Jeff Warrick. “For any athlete there’s ups and downs and there are struggles, but she’s persevered and this was a great payoff for that.”
Julie Dickinson also flirted with the old school record, racking up 311.70 points to move into the No. 3 spot on Iowa State’s All-Time Top Divers charts with a new personal record. Becky Stochl also smashed her personal record by over 36 points to earn a mark of 286.42 points and qualify for the NCAA Zond Diving Championships.
“This is one of the most memorable dual meet days that I’ve had,” Warrick said. “From top to bottom, I couldn’t have scripted a better result than what we had. It was phenomenal for all three of them and I’m just so happy for all of them.”
Roberts followed up the Cyclones’ remarkable diving efforts by taking first place in the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.52 – three seconds faster than the second-place finisher. With the three wins on the weekend, Roberts brought her event win total this season to 28.
“Our times were really good [this weekend]. KU was just really sharp and we knew they were going to be good,” head coach Duane Sorenson said. “Overall, I thought team-wise we did a really great job… We’re right where we want to be in the season and very pleased with the Big 12s coming up.”
Through the many outstanding superlatives the Cyclones had over the weekend, a few individual swimmers in particular stood out to Sorenson.
“I thought Kasey Roberts had a great meet winning her three individual races. Mary Kate Luddy did a great job in the 500 free[style] – her time was outstanding. Marissa Engel, very pleased with having her winning the 200 back[stroke] and her 200 IM time was really strong. She really raced that hard.”
The Cyclones have a little less than three weeks off before making the trip south to Austin, Texas, for the 2016 Big 12 Championships Feb. 24-27. Iowa State will make the trip seeking consecutive top-two finishes at the meet for the first time since the Cyclones began competing at their conference championship meet in the mid-1970s.
