Huskers Open Season with Scarlet & Cream Meet

The Huskers dive into the 2016-17 swimming season riding momentum from outstanding performances in the pool, in the well, in the classroom and in the community during the 2015-16 campaign.

Nebraska will hit the water for the first time on Friday afternoon for the annual Scarlet and Cream Intrasquad meet at the Devaney Center Natatorium with events starting at 3 p.m.

Although Nebraska lost a successful 2016 senior class that featured nine contributors, the Huskers return a talented nucleus of 17 swimmers and divers, while adding 11 impressive newcomers to the roster.

Headlining the list of Nebraska’s returning talent is 2016 NCAA Diving All-American Anna Filipcic. The senior from Omaha, Neb., took 10th on the one-meter board at the 2016 NCAA Championships. Filipcic’s performance at the NCAA meet followed a strong showing at the NCAA Zone Diving Meet and a runner-up finish on the one-meter board at the 2016 Big Ten Championships.

Filipcic’s contributions to the Husker program don’t end in the diving well. The three-time NCAA qualifier is also a two-time first-team CSCAA Scholastic All-American and could contend for national academic honors in 2017. She is also a two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and academic All-Big Ten selection.

“Anna is a tough competitor and an outstanding person,” Nebraska Coach Pablo Morales said. “She is definitely a leader for us in the diving well, and she is also a great representative for our entire program.”

Filipcic leads a deep diving corps that includes junior Francesca Giganti, sophomores Kara Cottrell and Katrina Voge, and freshman Abigail Knapton.

While Filipcic produced Nebraska’s top scores in the one- and three-meter dives a year ago, Giganti posted NU’s top performance on the platform. Giganti finished 17th at the NCAA Zone meet, just ahead of Voge.

Voge, a sophomore from Franklin, Wis., finished the season strong at the NCAA Zone competition, taking 20th on the platform and 21st in the three-meter event. Voge could be prepared to produce higher scores after a solid freshman campaign.

Knapton, a freshman from Omaha, will fill the void left by fellow Nebraskan Nicole Schwery in the Husker diving group in 2016-17. Knapton joins the Big Red after claiming runner-up honors in the one-meter dive for Omaha Marian at the 2016 Nebraska High School Championships.

“We feel like we have a strong group of divers who can contend at the conference and national levels,” Morales said. “Natasha Chikina does an outstanding job of leading our entire diving program and is really elevating the performances of each of our individual divers every year. She is developing a tremendous program for us, and we are looking for that to continue this year and into the future.”

While Nebraska’s five divers are expected to be strong in the well, the Husker swimmers could be poised for a move up the Big Ten standings in the pool.

Leading the charge for the Big Red will be senior Erin Oeltjen. The two-time Nebraska captain competed in both the 100- and 200-meter backstrokes at the U.S. Olympic Trials in her hometown of Omaha in 2016. Oeltjen owns Nebraska’s top returning times in the 200-yard back (1:57.46) and the 50-yard freestyle (23.22). She added a 15th-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly and a 16th-place effort in the 200 back at the 2016 Big Ten Championships.

Along with her success in the water, Oeltjen is also a tremendous representative of the Husker program in both the classroom and the community. She is a two-time academic All-Big Ten choice and was a 2016 CSCAA All-America Scholar. She also claimed a prestigious Nebraska Student-Athlete HERO Leadership Award in 2016.

“Erin has some terrific talent that is really just starting to rise to the surface,” Morales said. “Erin is a great student, a great teammate, a great leader and a great person. She is a two-time captain for us, so that gives you a pretty good indication how much respect our entire team has for her and her work ethic.”

Julia Roller joins Oeltjen as a team captain for the Huskers in 2016-17. The senior from Naperville, Ill., struggled with a back injury at the end of her junior season, but is a proven performer at the conference level. A leader in Nebraska’s butterfly and individual medley groups, Roller only competed in the 200 freestyle at the 2016 Big Ten Championships because of her injury. However, as a sophomore in 2015, Roller stormed to a 10th-place Big Ten finish in the 200 fly, while adding a 20th-place finish in the 200 IM. She added a 17th-place showing in the 400 IM as a freshman for the Huskers in 2014.

A healthy Roller could go a long way in helping Nebraska climb the ladder in the Big Ten.

A fourth senior leader for the Huskers, Katt Sickle will redshirt in her fifth year in the program in 2016-17, after undergoing shoulder surgery in July. Sickle’s shoulder, which also kept her from swimming during the 2013-14 campaign, could not prevent her from qualifying and competing in the 400-meter freestyle at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha.

Sickle, who is a two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and academic All-Big Ten selection, earned her bachelor’s degree as an elementary education major from Nebraska in May of 2016. She is hopeful that her recent surgery and a year of successful rehab will allow her to produce a fully healthy sixth season in 2017-18. She also will have a chance to leave Nebraska with a master’s degree in hand.

“My injury has definitely limited my training ability, and has been extremely frustrating at times,” Sickle said, “but it’s made me a stronger athlete and individual. My family, coaches, teammates, sports psychologist and other athletic staff have been very supportive of me.”

While the Huskers lose a proven leader in the water in the distance freestyle events in Sickle, Canadian U.S. Olympic Trials participant Cassandra Brassard could help fill the void. One of Nebraska’s top backstrokers, Brassard has competed in the 500 free at each of her first two Big Ten Championships.

Brassard, a junior from Regina, Saskatchewan, finished 30th in the 100 back at the 2015 Big Ten Championships, and added a 36th-place showing in the 200 back at the 2016 conference meet. Brassard is hoping that a solid offseason of training can help her put up career-best times in 2017.

Jordan Ehly also could be poised to make a push up the conference standings. The junior from Albuquerque, N.M., is hoping to continue Nebraska’s rich tradition in the breaststroke events that includes 24 total All-America awards in the 100 and 200 events combined, including 1996 NCAA Champion Penny Heyns.

Ehly produced Nebraska’s top times in both the 100 (1:02.66) and 200 (2:14.67) last season before competing in the 200 breast at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha. As a freshman, she finished 16th in the 200 breast at the 2015 Big Ten Championships, before adding a 20th-place performance in 2016.

Ehly, who is one of Nebraska’s hardest workers in training, is hoping for a breakthrough junior season.

“Jordan came to us as a fairly accomplished swimmer, and we think she is putting herself in a position to make a significant jump in performance,” Morales said. “Jordan is a really good leader, and she is unbelievable in training. We are looking forward to her bridging the gap in her training and her competitive performance because when she does, it could be pretty special.”

Lincoln native Aimee Fischer rounds out a four-member junior class. A distance freestyle and IM competitor for the Big Red, Fischer finished 33rd in the 1,650 free at the 2016 Big Ten Championships, a five-spot jump from her freshman campaign.

Nebraska’s nine-member sophomore class could play a major role in the Huskers’ improvement in 2016-17. While Cottrell and Voge are expected to make gains for the Husker diving corps, Morgan McCafferty leads a talented collection of sophomore swimmers.

McCafferty, a native of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, competed in the 100 backstroke at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. Her time of 55.19 in the 100-yard back at the Big Challenge not only helped the Huskers to the team title, it was also Nebraska’s best performance in the event during the season. She went on to finish 29th as a freshman in the event at the Big Ten Championships, and she could be looking to make a jump in the final standings this season.

“Morgan brings such great intensity to the pool every day,” Morales said. “She has a drive and determination when she is in the water, not just in competition but in practice and training every day. That intensity is contagious to our entire team.”

Sophomore backstrokers Lindsay Helferich, Jacqueline Jeschke and Anna McDonald should be beneficiaries of McCafferty’s contagious competitiveness.

Dana Posthuma, a product of Omaha Burke, should be another leader among Nebraska’s sophomores. Posthuma produced NU’s top Big Ten finish by a freshman in 2016. Her 10th-place effort in the 100 butterfly came in a Nebraska and career-best time of 53.98 at the Big Ten Championships. She added a career-best time of 2:00.96 in the 200 fly at the Big Ten meet, which is also Nebraska’s top returning time in the event. With a full year of collegiate training and experience under her belt, Posthuma could be looking to make major gains as a sophomore.

Kaylyn Flatt could be poised to fill the space left by Sickle in the distance free events. Flatt, a sophomore from Centennial, Colo., finished 21st in the 1,650 free and 30th in the 500 free as a freshman at the Big Ten meet.

Bridget Pacilio rounds out Nebraska’s sophomore class after strong showings in the 200 and 400 IM and the breaststroke events as a freshman.

While the sophomores are looking to step up their performances in their second seasons, an 11-member freshman class hopes to make an immediate splash.

Lincoln Pius X graduate Olivia Appleget and fellow Nebraskan Lindsey Stalheim (Omaha) join Shea Bougie (Lakeville, Minn.) in hoping to contribute in the butterfly, backstroke and IM events.
Venezuelan National Team member Carla Gonzalez-Garcia (Arlington, Texas) and Tori Beeler (Parkville, Mo.) plan to add more pop to the backstroke and IM events for the Big Red, while Beeler also hopes to contribute in breaststroke.

Two-time All-American Savannah Savitt (Tampa, Fla.), who produced seven top-five finishes at the Florida state championships, hopes to bring speed and consistency to NU’s freestyle, breast and IM events.

Abigail Greeneway (Appleton, Wis.), Samantha Hedrick (Pella, Iowa) and Allie Worrall could add instant impacts in the sprint freestyle events. Worrall, who like recent Nebraska graduate and sprint freestyler Taryn Collura is from Phoenix, was the 2016 Arizona high school 100 free champion, while adding runner-up honors in the 50 free. Hedrick and Worrall also plan to bolster the Big Red butterfly events.

The new mix of Huskers will hit the water for the first time at the Scarlet vs. Cream Intrasquad on Sept. 23, before playing host to the annual Alumni Meet at the Devaney Natatorium on Oct. 1. The regular season opens with road duals at Iowa State and South Dakota State, before returning home to face Northern Iowa (Oct. 28) and Kansas (Nov. 5). The swim and dive teams will compete in invitationals until returning home for a Senior Day dual with Omaha on Jan. 14.

The Huskers close the dual campaign at Illinois on Jan. 21, before competing at Notre Dame’s Shamrock Invitational (Jan. 27-28) as a final tune-up for the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. (Feb. 15-18).

The NCAA Last Chance Meet (Feb. 24-26) and NCAA Zone Diving Meet (March 6-8) will conclude Nebraska’s preparations for the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis (March 15-18).