Huskers Sweep Season-Opening Duals

The Nebraska swimming and diving team celebrated its opening weekend of the 2019-20 season with a 2-0 start by cruising to road wins over South Dakota State and Northern Iowa.
 
On Saturday afternoon, the Huskers wrapped up a strong opening weekend with a 143-100 win over UNI in Cedar Falls. Nebraska's performance at UNI followed an impressive 154.5-88.5 victory at South Dakota State in Brookings on Friday afternoon.

In the win over UNI, the Huskers dominated the distance freestyle events, sweeping the top three spots in the 1,000 freestyle with a victory from junior Rachel Powers (10:23.47), followed by a second-place finish from sophomore Katelyn Kilpatrick (10:29.72). Audrey Coffey took third in the 1,000 (10:32.25), before swimming to victory in the 500 free (5:07.10). Kilpatrick (5:07.35) added another runner-up showing in the 500 free for the Huskers.
 
The Husker divers added some dominant performances of their own at UNI. Sara Troyer took back-to-back victories in both the one- and three-meter dives on Saturday. The sophomore from Goshen, Ind., won the one meter with an NCAA-qualifying score of 281.93 before adding another NCAA-qualifying total of 302.63 on the three-meter board.

Fellow sophomore Hallie Roman added a runner-up finish on the one meter (240.67), while junior Grace Tiernon added third-place finishes in both the one (234.14) and three-meter dives (252.08).

The Big Red owned the 200 butterfly, sweeping the top three places led by junior captain Izzie Murray's winning time of 2:05.64. Freshman Kim Lanaghen took second (2:09.66), while sophomore Maggie Berning (2:10.66) completed the sweep in third place.

The Huskers added a victory in the 200-yard IM from senior Tori Beeler (2:07.21), while junior Allison Kopas pitched in a runner-up finish (2:08.66).

In the sprint freestyle events, Autumn Haebig swam to a pair of runner-up finishes in the 100 (53.01) and 200 (1:52.62). Senior Savannah Savitt was right behind Haebig in both events with third-place showings in the 100 (54.28) and 200 (1:57.20). Izzie Murray (25.09) placed third in a tight race in the 50.

Senior Lindsey Stalheim took second in the 200 back (2:08.66), while senior Gwen Worlton added a runner-up finish in the 200 breaststroke (2:22.43). Worlton was followed by Beeler, who finished in third (2:24.87) in the 200 breast.

The Huskers split the relay series against the Panthers, winning the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:38.40) thanks to the strong swimming of Haebig, Gonzalez, Savitt and Beeler, and finished as runner-ups in the 200-yard medley relay (1:47.96) coming from swimmers Gonzalez, Worlton, Murray and Kopas.

Nebraska improved to 11-0 all-time against Northern Iowa.

The Huskers opened the weekend with a 154.5-88.5 victory over South Dakota State in Brookings. Freshman Berkeley Livingston opened her collegiate career with a win in the 1,000 free (10:31.54), while sophomores Maggie Berning (10:45.05) and Taylor Acheson (10:56.43) took second and third, respectively to complete the sweep. 

Haebig reeled in her first victory of the season with the top finish in the 500 free (5:03.08), while freshman Molly Rosenthal pitched in a runner-up finish (5:10.11) in her first collegiate effort.

Troyer opened the season with victories in the one meter (269.32) and three meter (302.10), which were both NCAA-qualifying scores. Tiernon took second in the one meter (247.79) and third in the three meter (237.90). Roman took runner-up in the three meter (240.38) and third in the one meter (227.93).

In the sprint freestyle races, Kopas was victorious in the 200 (1:57.36), while Powers took second (1:57.60) and Kilpatrick finished third (1:58.00). In the 100 free, Carla Gonzalez-Garcia notched the victory (53.49), while Beeler finished second (53.87) and Kopas third (53.93).

Stalheim won the 100 back (58.68), while Murray finished second (1:00.66), while Beeler raced to victory in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.78).

In the 200 yard IM, Savitt finished second (2:12.50), while Lanaghen added a runner-up finish in the 100 fly (58.76), while Berning took third (1:01.06).
 
In relay action, The Huskers started off on the right foot by capturing a victory in the 400-yard medley relay (3:54.99) with Haebig, Worlton, Beeler, and Savitt and reeled in a runner-up finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:41.33) with Kopas, Livingston, Marvin and Lanaghen putting the finishing touches on winning team performance.
 
Nebraska improved to 15-0 all-time against South Dakota State.  

The Huskers return to Lincoln for their first home dual of the season when they take on the Iowa State Cyclones at the Devaney Natatorium on Saturday, Oct. 19 at noon.