Freshman Leads Huskers at Irvine

Irvine, Calif. --- The Nebraska swimming and diving team finished the first day of the Country Inn and Suites Invitational Saturday in second place with 141 points in the distance meet and fourth place in the sprint meet with 172 points.

Freshman Kate Wheeler, the lone event winner for the Huskers in Saturday’s distance contest, had the best finish of the day for the Huskers, earning first place in the 1,000-yard freestyle race in a time of 10:16.06. Wheeler also had strong swims in a pair of other events, earning second place in the 500-yard freestyle (5:06.53) and seventh place in the 1,650-yard freestyle (17:50.70).

In the sprint events, the Huskers received points from senior Angie Matheu, who finished third in the 100-yard breast in a time of 1:08.32. Freshman Julie McCauley, who earned fourth place in the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.66), also put points on the board for the Huskers.

Head Coach Pablo Morales was pleased with the team’s results.

"Today was a marathon meet for the girls, everyone swam everything," said Morales. "This weekend is serving as a training meet for the team, so they’re swimming fatigued, and their times showed that a little bit. They’ve been training hard, but they still stepped up and swam well today."

Nebraska concludes competition at the Country Inn and Suites Invitational on Sunday morning beginning at 8 a.m. with the relay meet.