Huskers Head to Kansas for Big 12 Relays

Meet: Big 12 Relays
Date: Friday, Oct. 24
Time: 9 a.m.
Site: Lawrence, Kan.
Next Meet: at Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa - Saturday, Nov. 1)

Huskers Head to Kansas for Big 12 Relays
The Nebraska swimming and diving team competes in its first meet against Big 12 competition this Friday as it travels to Lawrence, Kan., for the Big 12 Relays. The Huskers had their first dual meet of the season on Oct. 10, falling to Illinois 129-171.

The Huskers finished fifth in last year’s Big 12 Relays in Ames, Iowa, scoring 34.5 points. Texas A&M is the two-time defending champions on the women’s side and will be favored this weekend to take a third straight title. The meet will be split up into two sessions, with the first starting at 9 a.m. and the second at 1 p.m.

Nebraska will travel to Iowa next weekend for its second straight away meet at a Big 10 school to open the season. The Huskers defeated Iowa in Lincoln last season, 170-130. The Nebraska divers will head to Minnesota for the Minneapolis Diving Invitational from Nov. 14-16 before the Huskers kick off their home schedule with the Husker Invitational from Nov. 20-23.

Scouting the Big 12 Relays
The Texas A&M Aggies have run away with the women’s Big 12 Relays title the past two years, winning by 29 points in both the 2006 and 2007 meet. The Aggies are sixth in the nation in the latest swimming rankings, and are 2-0 this season after defeating North Texas and Rice in their first two dual meets. Two other Big 12 teams are also ranked, with Texas coming in at No. 17 and Missouri at No. 21.

Last Year: Sprint Freestylists Lead NU at Big 12 Relays
Nebraska’s sprint freestyle swimmers gave the Huskers their second-highest event finish at the Big 12 Relays since 2002 as they placed runner-up in the 100-yard freestyle relay to lead NU to a fifth-place team finish on Nov. 19 in Ames, Iowa.

Nebraska accounted for 34.5 points on the day, while also earning four fourth-place finishes in the 18-event meet. Only the Huskers’ winning 1,500-yard freestyle relay (Kate Wheeler, Casey Schnack and Lauren Bailey) at the 2005 meet has finished higher in the past six years than the 100-freestyle team of senior Lynn Siemert, junior Jenna Stroud, freshman Meredith Matthies and junior Jenny Toler.

Their time of 45.06 not only placed NU ahead of Kansas (45.32), Texas (45.36), Iowa State (45.48) and Missouri (46.19), but the mark was nearly a full second faster (eight tenths) than the Huskers’ time at the 2006 Big 12 Relay meet. Their finish was vital in keeping the Huskers ahead of Iowa State in the team standings as the 100-freestyle relay was the third to last event of the day.

Stroud and Siemert were also on the fourth-place 200 freestyle relay team, along with freshman Jess Andrews and sophomore Hailey Dean. In addition, Siemert and Dean swam on the 100 medley relay (with sophomore Kelsey Ida and freshman Kelsey Grushecky) that finished fourth to open the meet, while Matthies was the anchor of the fourth-place 300 butterfly relay that included Grushecky and sophomore Mariah Hutchinson.

Review: Huskers Fall to Illinois in Season Opener
The Nebraska swimming and diving team lost its first meet of the season on Friday, Oct. 10, to Illinois, 171-129, in Champaign, Ill. The Fighting Illini were playing in their first home meet in four years after moving to a new facility this season.

The Huskers took home first-place finishes in seven out of the 16 events but couldn’t put together enough consistency to come out ahead in the meet. Illinois jumped off to a quick lead by winning five of the first six events and never looked back.

“Illinois had a great meet,” NU Head Coach Pablo Morales said. “It’s been four years since they’ve had a home meet and they had a great crowd.”

Sophomore Jess Andrews had two first-place finishes for the Nebraska, winning the 50-yard freestyle (24.43) and the 100-yard freestyle (53.24).

“Jess had a fantastic meet,” Morales said. “She’s really starting to blossom into one of the best sprinters in the conference. That’s what we were hoping for when we recruited her.”

The Huskers also finished first in the 200-yard freestyle (Julie Giehl, 1:54.12), 500-yard freestyle (Mariah Hutchinson, 5:06.92) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:32.99).

In the diving competitions, Courtney Jolly had wins in both the one and three meter dives.

“We knew they’d be hyped,” Morales said about the Illinois squad. “They had some fabulous swims that really exceeded the scouting that we had on them. But I think we can take some positives out of this meet. It will serve as a good baseline for us to continue to improve.”