Huskers Travel to Lone Star State for Texas Invite

<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Nebraska will be up against six ranked teams when it travels to the Texas Invitational this Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 29-Dec. 1 in Austin at the Joe and JamailTexasSwimmingCenter.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

Competition begins Thursday at 10 a.m., with a prelim session, while finals will start at 6 p.m. Friday’s and Saturday’s schedules will run in the same format. Fans can keep up on all the action by following live stats on Texassports.com, while Huskers.com will provide daily recaps.

 

Among the nine-team field are two teams ranked in the top 10 in No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 Arizona. Also competing against the Huskers will be No. 12 SMU, No. 16 Texas, No. 17 Arizona State, No. 19 Wisconsin, TCU and UNLV.

 

Competing for the first time since its Husker Invitational championship two weeks ago in Lincoln (Nov. 15-18), Nebraska holds a 6-0 record in dual meets in 2007-08. The Huskers’ appearance in Texas will end a two-year absence from the meet as Nebraska last competed at the Texas Invitational during the 2004-05 season, finishing seventh. The Huskers competed at the Texas Invite for five-straight seasons from 2000-01 to 2004-05.

 

Nebraska’s schedule hits a standstill following this week, as the Huskers will not compete again until the Holiday Training Trip Competition in San Luis Potosi, Mexico in early January. After Christmas training, Nebraska will open its Big 12 dual meet schedule at Kansas on Jan. 19, followed by Senior Day against IowaState Feb. 2 and a trip to Missouri Feb. 9 to conclude the regular season.          

 

Jolly Receives Co-Big 12 Diver of the Week Honors

Nebraska junior diver Courtney Jolly added to an already impressive career of accomplishments by being named the Big 12 co-Diver of the Week for meets from Nov. 5-22, the league office announced Wednesday.

 

Jolly received the award for the first time during her career after recording three wins in two invites. She won the three meter at the Minnesota Diving Invitational (Nov. 9-11) with a season-best score of 300.45, before earning two victories at the Husker Invitational (Nov. 15-18) on both the one- (259.70) and three-meter (289.30) boards. A 2006 NCAA Zone qualifier, Jolly has six wins this season. Missouri junior Kendra Melnychuk tied Jolly for the award after a pair of victories at the Purdue Invitational. Texas A&M’s Julia Wilkinson was named the swimmer of the week.

 

A native of Plantation, Fla., Jolly becomes the first Husker to earn the Big 12 honor since Lauren Bailey was named swimmer of the week last season for meets from Jan. 22-Feb. 4, 2007.

 

Huskers Add Two in Fall Signing Period

With the loss of two seniors at the conclusion of the 2007-08 season, the Husker coaching staff has added a pair of athletes during the fall signing period, head coach Pablo Morales announced Monday afternoon.

 

New members to the Nebraska swimming and diving program will be Caroline Shea of Denver, Colo., and D’arcy Schmidt of Phoenix, Ariz. The duo will help replace outgoing seniors Lynn Siemert and Adrienne Goodman, with the NU coaching staff looking to sign additional student-athletes during the spring signing period in May 2008.

 

Caroline Shea attends MullenHigh School in Denver, Colo., and is a four-time Colorado Class 4A state champion. Shea most recently won the 2007 100 freestyle state title after claiming the 200 freestyle as a sophomore in 2006. In her first of three-straight state appearances, Shea led off the Mustangs’ 2005 state championship 400 freestyle relay that set a Colorado Class 4A state record in a time of 3:36.36. In 2007, she anchored Mullen’s 200 freestyle relay title team, helping her earn Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post All-Colorado swimming team honorable mention honors. During her career, Shea regularly swam against Husker freshman Brandie Kavalec, who attended Mountain ViewHigh School in Loveland, Colo.

 

D’arcy Schmidt of Arcadia High School in Scottsdale, Ariz., will be a unique addition to the Husker swimming and diving program, as she competes as a dual swimmer and diver in the Arizona high school ranks. Schmidt has been one of the state’s best performers in recent history, winning four-straight Arizona Class 4A Division II diving titles. At the 2007 state meet, she proved her versatility by anchoring Arcadia’s 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay state championship teams en route to the Titans’ Class 4A Division II team title. Individually, she finished runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle. Schmidt will give immediate depth and talent to a NU diving squad that currently consists of four divers.

 

Review: Nebraska Wins Husker Invitational Championship

Nebraska concluded it’s most exciting and busy week in recent years as it was crowned the 2007 Husker Invitational champions Nov. 18 at the Devaney Natatorium to end a four-day meet that marked the longest home competition in school history.

 

The Huskers won 17 of 21 total events en route to capturing Nebraska’s first invitational title since 2000. The Big Red began a strong run on Friday night to take an immense lead over the six-team field that it would not relinquish, with the Huskers pulling away from second-place Colorado State to defeat the Rams by 281 points (1,519-1,238) by the end of Sunday’s seventh and final session.

 

The meet concluded with freshman Kelsey Grushecky winning the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 2:04.52, while sophomore Mariah Hutchinson finished second in 2:05.91. It was Grushecky’s second victory of the Husker Invitational after she also won Saturday’s 100 butterfly. Three Huskers matched Grushecky’s two-win meet total in freshman Julie Giehl (200 and 500 freestyle), sophomore Hailey Dean (200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke) and junior Courtney Jolly (one- and three-meter dive).

 

Sophomore Kaitlin Arntz gave Nebraska its second win in Sunday’s five-event finals schedule as the Omaha, Neb., native took the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:23.75. Dean was runner-up in 2:23.91.

 

Sunday’s competition also included the platform dive, where Jolly finished runner-up (214.35) behind IowaState’s Tien Tran (236.75). It was the second-straight week that the Husker divers competed on the platform after participating at the Minnesota Diving Invitational last week (Nov. 9-11).

 

The end of the Husker Invitational concluded a long homestand for Nebraska that saw the Huskers swim five of their first six regular season meets in the friendly confines of the Devaney Natatorium. Nebraska is 6-0 in dual meets, with its next home competition coming Feb. 2 against Big 12 opponent IowaState, who finished third in the Husker Invitational with 1,013 points.