Huskers Begin Big Ten Championships

The Nebraska swimming and diving team traveled to Iowa City, Iowa for the Big Ten Championship meet this week. The four-day meet consists of 13 teams and multiple events with the preliminary races beginning in the morning and the finals later in the evening.

The Huskers began the first day with two solid performances in the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay.

First in the 200 medley relay, the Husker swimmers consisted of Autumn Haebig, Gwen Worlton, Izzie Murray and Tori Beeler, who finished in 11th place with a season-best time of 1:40.65. 

In the 800 freestyle relay led by Autumn Haebig, Carla Gonzalez, Savannah Savitt and Madison Coughlen, the Huskers swam to a school-record time of 7:10.77. The Huskers won their heat and finished in 9th place total. The new time breaks a former record set by Anna Windsor, Helene Muller, Therese Alshammar and Shandra Johnson, three of whom went on to race in the Olympics.

Another milestone was set by Autumn Haebig, who set a new career and school-record in the 200 freestyle (1:44.94). Haebig started off the 800 free relay for the Huskers, making her time eligible for records and potential NCAA qualifiers. She bested her former school-record by over a second (1:45.96) in a busy night for the swimmer from Grafton, Wisconsin.

Head Coach Pablo Morales felt like this was a great start for his Huskers this week.

"The first day is interesting because it's just two relays to start off the meet," Morales said. "It's not necessarily an indicator that you can't have a great meet for the rest of the week and vice versa. Having said that, it was a great way to start. The 200 medley was strong and the splits were really good, but there was certainly room for improvement. Coming back with the 800 free relay was really a positive, getting Autumn to swim a lifetime best and a school-record on the lead-off and then to have to the rest of the relay come up big with nice splits and a nice anchor from Madison Coughlen for another school record. We still definitely need to stay on our game for the next few days, but this was a great way to start."

The Huskers finished the first day in 10th place with 72 points. The Michigan Wolverines lead with 118 points, followed by Ohio State in second with 112 points and Wisconsin in third with 108 points. Day two of the meet will begin tomorrow morning, Feb. 20, at 11 AM for the preliminary races. The finals will begin later in the evening at 6:30.