Huskers Ready for Illinois

Meet: Illinois vs. Nebraska

Date: Friday, Oct. 12

Time: 5 p.m.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Site: Devaney Natatorium

Next Meet: <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Alumni Meet on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Devaney Natatorium

 

 

For the first time in school history, the Nebraska swimming and diving team will take on Illinois of the Big Ten Conference when the two squads kick off the 2007-08 regular season from the Devaney Natatorium this Friday, Oct. 12 at 5 p.m.

 

The Huskers and Illini have each went through an intrasquad competition to help prepare for the upcoming five-month regular season, but Friday will be the first official meet for both teams. In Lincoln last Friday, Sept. 5, the Scarlet defeated the Cream, 70-57, behind a pair of wins from junior Jenny Toler in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle. On Sept. 28 in Urbana, Ill., freshman Meghan Mason won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle to lead the Orange to a narrow 102-97 victory over the Blue in Illinois’ intrasquad meet.

 

Like Nebraska, the Illini welcome a large recruiting class, as Illinois has eight freshmen on its 2007-08 roster in addition to a combined eight juniors and seniors. The Huskers’ freshmen class of 11 is the largest in school history. They join 14 returning letterwinners from the 2006-07 Huskers that went 7-6 in dual action and finished fifth at the Big 12 Championships in College Station, Texas last February.

 

Illinois won’t be the only action the Huskers see this weekend, as the fourth annual Alumni Meet will take place in conjunction with UNL’s Homecoming on Saturday morning at the Devaney Natatorium at 8:30 a.m. Last year’s Alumni Meet attracted nine former Husker swimmers.

 

The beginning of the 2007-08 regular season marks the seventh year for head coach Pablo Morales, who is 32-22 in dual meets during his career. The 2004 Big 12 Coach of the Year is assisted by Doug Humphrey, who will be serving his 17th season associated with the Husker swimming and diving program, dating back to 1992 when he began a career with Nebraska as a four-year letterwinner and two-time Big Eight champion. Diving coach Natasha Chikina begins her third season in Lincoln, while the Huskers added two new coaches in graduate assistant Destiny Frankenstein, a 2006 graduate of the University of Kansas, and volunteer coach Emilee Crawford, a former Nebraska backstroker and four-year letterwinner from 2004-07.

 

The Huskers’ 2008 senior class consists of Adrienne Goodman and Lynn Siemert, both experienced veterans who were part of Nebraska’s third-place Big 12 Conference finish in 2005. They will be strongly supported by three juniors (Jenna Stroud, Jenny Toler and Christina Yemm) and a sophomore class that includes two Big 12 Championship final qualifiers in Kaitlin Arntz and Mariah Hutchinson.

 

The divers will be led by 2007 NCAA Zone qualifier Courtney Jolly. The junior had a breakout sophomore season in 2006-07 as she won five regular season events before finishing seventh on the one meter at the Big 12 Championships. She is leading a diving corp that includes three freshmen.

 

Nebraska’s season will continue at a fast pace next week, when the Huskers travel to Ames, Iowa for the 2007 Big 12 Relays on Friday, Oct. 19. After returning home, Nebraska will host South DakotaState at the Devaney Natatorium on Saturday. Last year, the Huskers tied for fifth when they hosted the 2006 Big 12 Relays. Nebraska holds a 3-0 all-time record against the Jackrabbits, including a 181-102 win in Brookings last December.

 

Scouting the Illinois Illini:

Illinois finished ninth in the 11-team conference at the 2007 Big Ten Championships in Minneapolis, Minn. During the 2006-07 regular season, the Illini went 4-1 in dual meets, including a 2-1 mark in conference action. Seniors Abbey Bernardo (diver), Meghan Bradley (IM/back), Mallory Craft (back/fly) and Kellie Stevens (free/breast) provide the leadership for a squad that includes four juniors, 11 sophomores and eight freshman.

 

In her eighth season as head coach is Sue Novitsky. The 1991 graduate of OaklandUniversity holds a 33-44 career record with Illinois. Steve Farnau serves as the associate head coach and has been alongside Novitsky through her entire seven-year tenure. Diving coach Chris Waters enters his second season, coming to Illinois from Tulane, where he was diving coach for one season before the program was suspended due to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

 

Nebraska-Illinois Series History

This Friday’s match-up will mark the first-ever meeting between the Huskers and Illini. Nebraska has only faced one opponent from the state of Illinois in school history as it is 9-3 vs. Southern Illinois. The most recent meeting was a 132-84 Husker win in Carbondale on Oct. 23, 2004.

 

Husker Roster Contains Illinois Flavor

The 2007-08 Nebraska roster includes five swimmers from the state of Illinois, tied for most on the team (also five from Nebraska). The Husker coaching staff has recruited the PrairieState strong in recent years and had at least one Illinois native on the roster every season since 2003-04. This year’s team of Illinois natives consists of freshman Claire Desormey (St. Charles), sophomore Sarah Broker (Downers Grove), juniors Jenny Toler (Elk Grove) and Christina Yemm (Sterling) and senior Lynn Siemert (Sterling). Broker was high school teammates with current Illinois swimmers’ Amy Forsberg and Courtney Spivak. All three graduated from Downers Grove (Ill.) SouthHigh School in 2005.

 

Review: Scarlet Defends Intrasquad Meet Title

Behind a pair of wins by junior Jenny Toler and victories in both relays, the Scarlet team downed the Cream, 70-57, in the sixth annual intrasquad meet on Friday, Sept. 5 at the Devaney Natatorium.

 

With eight wins in the 14-event meet, the Scarlet had two stretches that saw it win three-straight events. The first came out of the gate, as it took the 200-yard medley relay (freshman Rachell McClain, sophomore Hailey Dean, sophomore Mariah Hutchinson and senior Lynn Siemert), the 200-yard freestyle (Jenny Toler) and the 50-yard freestyle (Lynn Siemert) to build an early advantage.

 

The Cream responded with a trio of wins itself by sophomore Christina Yemm (200-yard individual medley), freshmen Mariesa Cloud and Emily Burbach (one-meter dive) and freshman Kelsey Grushecky (100-yard butterfly) to fight back and show a major part of what head coach Pablo Morales believes was the best intrasquad meet in its six-year existence.

 

“On so many levels, this was a great Scarlet vs. Cream meet,” Morales said. “With all due respect to other meets that we’ve had in the past, this has to be the top in terms of the competitiveness and spirit.”

 

The meet marked the first competitive environment for the 2007-08 Huskers and the last intrasquad for Nebraska’s two seniors, Lynn Siemert and Adrienne Goodman. The Husker coaching staff was also able to receive a more complete evaluation of its 11-person freshmen class. In addition to Grushecky’s win in the 100-yard butterfly, freshmen Rachell McClain (100-yard backstroke) and Brandie Kavalec of the Scarlet team won swimming events as well.

 

McClain and Kavalec’s wins came during the Scarlet’s second stretch of three-consecutive wins that included Toler’s second win of the day-the 100-yard freestyle. Along with a 100-yard breaststroke win by sophomore Hailey Dean, there was enough separation to secure the victory before the Cream won the three-meter dive (Cloud and Burbach), the swimmer’s one-meter dive (sophomore Kaitlin Arntz) and the diver’s 50-yard freestyle (Burbach).

 

The Scarlet capped the meet with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay by Dean, Siemert, Toler and freshman Meredith Matthies and improve it’s all-time record to 3-2 over the Cream.