Huskers Travel to Northwestern Invitational

Nebraska at Northwestern Invitational
Date: Feb. 1-2
Location: Norris Aquatics Center, Evanston, Ill.
Time: 5 p.m. (Friday) 10 a.m. / 5 p.m. (Saturday)

The Nebraska swimming and diving team travels to Evanston, Ill., on Friday, Feb. 1, for the Northwestern Invitational held at the University of Northwestern's Norris Aquatics Center. The squad will compete in three sessions of timed finals only. The first session begins at 5 p.m. on Friday while the second and third sessions will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.  

The Huskers will face Northwestern, Iowa, and No. 15 Ohio State each in a separate dual meet at the invitational. All four teams will compete against each other in the same format. However, because Iowa and Northwestern competed against each other in a dual last weekend, the two schools will not swim against each other at the invitational.

Nebraska faced both Iowa and Northwestern at the Hawkeye Invitational earlier this season. The Huskers (670) placed second behind Michigan while Iowa (559.5) and Northwestern (472.5) finished third and fourth, respectively.

The Huskers will be matching up with Ohio State for the first time since last season's Big Ten Championships. In Nebraska's inaugural conference championship meet, the Huskers finished 11th and the Buckeyes finished third.

With a single win this weekend, the Huskers will set a new school record for wins in a season. Their current win total of 11 ties them with the 1985-86 and 1989-90 Nebraska squads. They are the fifth Nebraska team to win ten games or more in a season and the first to do so in the last 23 years.

Additionally, this season's team has already surpassed Head Coach Pablo Morales' previous Nebraska career-best season win total of eight. He set that mark in the 2004-05 season when his Husker squad finished 8-1 and placed third at the Big 12 Championships.

This weekend's invitational is Nebraska's last regular season competition. After returning from Evanston, the Huskers will have nearly three weeks to prepare for the 2013 Big Ten Championships held Feb. 20-23 in Minneapolis, Minn.

Last Time at Northwestern Invitational: Huskers Finish Fourth at TYR Invitational (11/20/11)

The Nebraska swimming team finished fourth at this weekend's TYR Invitational in Evanston, Illinois. Husker swimmers finished in the top eight of nineteen events in an invitational that the Nebraska diving squad did not travel to.

The Huskers scored 517 points during the invite, just 177 points out of second place. Northwestern won the TYR Invite with 866 team points.

Nebraska had a strong showing throughout the invitational, earning three runner-up finishes on the weekend from Bailey Pons (500-yard freestyle), Hayley Martin (100-yard freestyle) and the 400-yard freestyle relay team (Martin, Pons, Rebekah Land and Kelly Dunn).

Third-place finishers include Shannon Guy in the 100-yard butterfly and Dunn in the 100-yard freestyle at 51.10. Morgan Flannigan, Katie Davis, Natalie Morris and Ellan Dufour all also contributed top-eight finishes on the invitational. Overall, the Huskers saw twenty-six finishes in the top-eight during the Invitational, leading to the fourth-place finish.

Final Results:TYR Invitational

1. Northwestern University 866
2. University of Illinois - Champaign 694
3. Iowa State University 693
4. University of Nebraska 517
5. Cleveland State University 465
6. Missouri State University 450
7. University of Illinois- Chicago 207
8. Kenyon College 205

Last Time Out: Huskers Swim Past Illini in Champaign (1/26/13)

The Nebraska swimming and diving team defeated conference opponent Illinois 194-106 on Saturday at the Illini's ARC Pool. The Huskers improved to 11-1 on the season following the victory.

The Huskers started strong once again, winning the 200-yard medley relay by nearly four seconds. The team of Hayley Martin, Shannon Guy, Taryn Collura, and Ariel Weech finished in a time of 1:41.63. 

Bailey Pons (10:22.01) and Morgan Flannigan (10:25.01) built off of that momentum, placing first and second, respectively, in the meet's second event, the 1,000-yard freestyle. Pons would later add a victory in the 500-yard freestyle, clocking in at 4:59.86.

Taryn Collura continued to shine in the sprint freestyle events, winning both the 50-yard (23.41) and 100-yard (51.03) freestyles.

Shannon Guy also added two victories on the day, winning the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.63) and 100-yard butterfly (56.56).

In the diving well, Amy Herman won both the one-meter (275.92) and three-meter (294.68) dives. Nicole Schwery and Kailey Harmon placed second and third, respectively, in both events.

The meet's final event saw Nebraska win the 400-yard freestyle relay in a time of 3:27.23. The team consisted of Taryn Collura, Hayley Martin, Shannon Guy, and Kelly Dunn.

Other Husker winners on the day were Hayley Martin in the 200-yard freestyle (1:51.09) and Ellan Dufour in the 200-yard backstroke (2:02.26). Martin added a second place finish in the 100-yard freestyle while Dufour added one in the 100-yard backstroke.

Alison Meng, Kathleen Knight, Erica Lynn, and Sarah Sykstus were the four winners for Illinois on the day. The Illini fell to 2-4 on the season with the loss.

Overall, the Huskers won 12 of the meet's 16 events, improving to 2-4 all-time against the Illini.