Huskers Win One, Set Record at Northwestern

Evanston, Ill. - The Nebraska swimming and diving team ended its regular season on Saturday with one win and two losses at the Northwestern Invitational held at Northwestern's Norris Aquatics Center. The Huskers won their dual meet against Northwestern by a score of 198-171 but fell to No. 15 Ohio State and Iowa by respective scores of 224-134 and 191-179.

With Saturday's results, Nebraska finished the regular season with a dual meet record of 12-3. Their 12 victories are a new school record, surpassing the 1986-87 and 1989-90 squads that finished with 11 wins. Eight was the previous season-best win total for Head Coach Pablo Morales.

The Huskers began the morning session with a second place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Hayley Martin, Shannon Guy, Natalie Morris, and Taryn Collura finished in a time of 1:43.01, less than a second behind Ohio State.

Shannon Guy then took second place in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing in a time of 56.22 seconds. Morris, Collura and Bria Deveaux finished seventh, 11th and 12th, respectively, in the event. Guy would later add a sixth place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke.

The squad also got a standout performance from Hayley Martin, as she took first place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 55.33 seconds. Earlier, Martin placed third in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing in 1:51.17.

Nebraska concluded the morning session with a third place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The team of Martin, Morris, Bailey Pons, and Ellan Dufour finished behind two Ohio State squads.

In the evening session, Bailey Pons got things started with a runner-up finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Pons finished the race in a time of 17:03.95.

Martin and Morris captured a pair of fourth place finishes in the middle events to keep up the scoring for the Huskers. Martin finished the 200-yard backstroke in 2:03.31, while Morris swam the 200-yard butterfly in 2:05.36.

The Huskers got their second and final win of the day from Taryn Collura in the 100-yard freestyle. The redshirt freshman finished in a time of 50.56 seconds.

In the diving well, Payton Michaud, Amy Herman and Kailey Harmon finished sixth, eighth and tenth, respectively, in the one-meter dive.

In the meet's final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Nebraska earned second place. The team of Martin, Guy, Deveaux, and Collura finished 65 hundredths of second behind Ohio State with a time of 3:25.67.

Katie Davis, Morgan Flannigan, Ashley Reiter, Ellan Dufour, Kristin Strecker, Kelsey Larson, and Melisa Mexia were the other top-ten finishers for the Huskers on Saturday. Overall, the Huskers produced 35 top-ten finishes and two victories over the two days at the invitational.

When they return, the squad will have nearly three weeks to prepare for the Big Ten Championships held Feb. 20-23 in Minneapolis, Minn.