Huskers Defeat SMS 77-35 in Dual Season Opener

Springfield, Mo. --- The 2004-05 Nebraska swimming & diving team picked up where it left off last year with an impressive 77-35 dual win over Southwest Missouri State on Friday evening. 

The win was the first on a two-day road trip. 

The Huskers won 10 of 13 women's events on the day, including five races in which the top three finishers were all Huskers.  It was a total team effort.

"It was a very successful day from the beginning," Coach Pablo Morales said.  "We traveled early but the team accepted the challenge and performed very well.  They had great spirit and intensity."

The Huskers started the day off exciting, coming from behind to win the 200-yard medley relay by under seven tenths of a second.  It was the beginning of a stretch that saw NU win four of the first five events.

Sophomore Kate Wheeler won a pair of events for the Huskers.  The sophomore won the 1,000-yard freestyle by 13 seconds in 10:07.95, topping her season-best from last year of 10:11.09.  She also took a first-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 5:00.29.  She was just one of eight Huskers who grabbed first-place finishes on the day.

"We had tremendous swims as a team.  It was a really strong day from top to bottom," Morales said.

Freshmen Betsy Grover and Lynn Siemert performed very well to the delight of the Nebraska coaches.  Both newcomers tallied a first-place finish, Grover in the 100-yard butterfly, and Siemert in the 50-yard freestyle.

Alex King also won a freestyle event, winning the 100 in 53.88.

NU had a strong showing in the 100-yard backstroke which was won by Emilee Crawford.  Lauren Bailey and Diana Torres came in second and third, as all three all finished within one tenth of a second of each other.

Lauren Bailey, NU's top returnee from last year won the 200-yard freestyle event in 1:53.43.  However, Bailey did not swim her strongest events but is expected to have a big day Saturday when she will swim her specialties, competing in the 1,650-yard freestyle, the 400-IM, and the 500-freestyle at Southern Illinois.

Amie Buoy and Becky Johnson split top places in the board competitions, just as in the intrasquad meet.  Buoy took the three-meter dive by over 40 points with a score of 279.45.  Johnson won the one-meter competition with a score of 250.25, edging out Buoy and Danielle Stansbury who tied for second-place with 248.95

The Huskers travel to Carbondale, Ill. for a dual competition with Southern Illinois on Saturday at 1 p.m.  It is expected to be a very challenging meet for NU.

"We expect a good meet from SIU.  They have improved from last year and will be ready for us.  It should be a good match-up," said Morales.