Distance Swimmers Head to Lawrence for Open Water

The Nebraska swimming and diving team will begin the year on an early note, with five of the squad's members competing in a preseason invitational. The CSCAA National Collegiate Open Water meet will take place in Lawrence, Kan. this Saturday, Sept. 14, beginning at 10 a.m.

The five competing swimmers include freshman Molly Rosenthal, sophomores Maggie Berning Audrey Coffey and Katelyn Kilpatrick, as well as junior Rachel Powers.

Head Coach Pablo Morales returns for his 19th season and is excited to get things going again for the new year.

"I'm excited," Morales said. "We had a good summer, and everyone trained well. All the girls did some great preparation in the offseason and performed well. Our girls made a good commitment this summer to perform well so as a result, we're coming into the season with a big deal of optimism."

Specifically, to the upcoming meet, Coach Morales explains what the CSCAA entails and the selection process to the Open Water Swim.

"Our distance swimmers are going to be swimming in the CSCAA meet," Morales said. "These are swimmers that are going to be competing in the 1,500-yard swim as one of their events. The limit is five swimmers per team and it just so happens that we have five individuals that will be competing in the 1,500 this year."

Junior swimmer Autumn Haebig and sophomore Audrey Coffey both recently qualified for the Olympic Trials in Omaha next summer and Coach Morales talks about the importance of the team working toward a common goal to compete in the trials.

"We're really excited about that," Morales said. "We know that a lot of the girls have ambitions to compete at the Olympic Trials meet and that's one of the goals we've targeted as a program. It's the opportunity to compete in front of an amazing venue, compete in front of a predominantly Nebraska audience and just to have your name represented as someone who's swimming as a student for the University of Nebraska in front of a home crowd like that is kind of a special experience, not to mention that you're competing in what is essentially the fastest swim meet in the world. I think having teammates that have broken through and done that inspires the rest of the team that has some ambitions to know that they can do it."

Last season, the Huskers achieved a new mark of eighth place, which is the highest finish in the Big Ten the team has ever had before, and Coach Morales wants to continue building from last season.

"We're looking to build on last year's new mark," Morales said. "Every year the dynamic of a team is different, but the objectives remain the same. Reach as high as we can in terms of our goal setting individually, and as a team and accept the challenge of being in one of the most competitive conferences in the nation when it comes to swimming and diving. We need to accept that challenge and continue moving in an upward direction in conference. It's also an Olympic year and the excitement that builds around that, so that's a lot of fun and I know our girls always seem to have a positive edge around the season when it's an Olympic year. We'll continue to grow as a team in terms of how our girls' bond and how our team comes together and the growth of the team chemistry."

After the pre-season CSCAA meet, the Husker's will preview the regular season with the annual Scarlet and Cream Intrasquad meet at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Natatorium on Friday, Sept. 27 at 4 p.m.
 
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