Troyer Notches Fifth in Three Meter as Huskers Succeed in Third Day

The Nebraska swimming and diving team followed up their Big Ten performance thus far with a good third day. The Huskers sent three swimmers and one diver to the 6:30 PM finals, where diver Sara Troyer found herself on the podium as the fifth best three-meter diver in the Big Ten. As a team, the Huskers remain in 10th place in the conference with one more day left.

In the Friday morning preliminaries, Mira Rhodes got the Huskers started with the first race of the day in the 100 yard butterfly. She swam her best time of her career (58.32), finishing fourth in the first heat and 63rd overall. In the fourth heat, three Husker swimmers were in the water. They were led by Kaitlyn Barth who swam to her best time of her career (54.67) and won the heat, placing 29th overall and narrowly missing the finals cut line. Kimberly Lanaghen swam a career-best time (55.80), placing 42nd and Lindsey Stalheim finished in 45th with a season-best time (55.99). 

Izzie Murray swam a season-best time (53.94), which won her the sixth preliminary heat and was good enough for 18th overall which secured her a spot in the C-Finals in the evening. 

Berkeley Livingston raced first for the Huskers in the 400 IM, finishing 30th overall (4:23.44). Madison Coughlen finished it for Nebraska, racing to a 12th place overall finish (4:14.93), pushing her into the B-final race in the evening with her season-best time.

In the 200 freestyle, 11 different Huskers hit the water, starting off with Taylor Acheson, who crushed her previous time this season for a new best (1:51.33) and placed 64th overall. Sutton Marvin placed 73rd with her season-best time in heat three, while Katelyn Kilpatrick finished 79th (1:53.07). Kimberley Lanaghen was alone in heat four, where she finished 77th overall (1:52.78). In the fifth heat, Molly Rosenthal swam a season-best time (1:51.61) and finished in 65th place. Teammate Rachel Powers finished in the same heat and finished in 78th (1:52.87).

In heat six of the 200 free, Audrey Coffey swam her career-best (1:48.91) and finished 37th. Carla Gonzalez and Jessica Pentlarge swam in the seventh heat, with Gonzalez finishing in 70th place (1:52.22) and Pentlarge swimming a season-best time (1:49.63), finishing in 45th. Savannah Savitt swam a lifetime-best race in the eighth heat (1:50.06), landing in 51st. Autumn Haebig ended it for the Huskers, and tried to re-break the school record from a few nights ago, but ended up short. She finished in 10th place (1:46.28), good for the B-Finals later in the day.

Gwen Worlton had the highest finish of four Huskers in the 100 yard breaststroke in the afternoon. She finished with a season-best time (1:02.37) and captured 27th place. She was closely followed by teammate Tori Beeler, who also swam a season-best (1:02.44) and finished 28th. Savannah Savitt swam a solid time (1:03.86), good for 42nd, while Gabby Baratta took 46th (1:04.25).

In the 100 yard backstroke, Lindsey Stalheim finished in 34th place with a career-best time of 55.75. She was followed by Carla Gonazalez (57.70) in 54th place and Mira Rhodes (1:00.73) in 59th place.

In the three meter diving preliminaries, Sara Troyer had another outstanding afternoon where she finished in fourth place out of fifty divers with a great score of 299.50, which sent her into the final round in the evening. Hallie Roman had a good outing, landing in 40th place (211.05), as well as Grace Tiernon who finished in 47th (197.70).

In the evening's final events, Izzie Murray got it started for the Huskers. She placed 8th in the 100 butterfly C-Final, which locked up the 24th spot in the Big Ten for the junior co-captain.

Madison Coughlen raced in the 400 IM B-Final for the Huskers, where she recorded a new career-best (4:13.02). The time was good enough to put her second on the Husker 400 IM list all-time and she was rewarded with the 11th best time in the Big Ten.

In the 200 freestyle finals, Autumn Haebig had another chance to re-break her record from two nights ago. She came up just short, but still won the B-Final (1:44.95), capturing 9th in the Big Ten this year with another great time, surpassing her time from the prelim.

On the diving board, Sara Troyer continued her excellence, earning a spot on the Big Ten top eight podium. Troyer had a great score of 315.40 and captured the 5th place spot in the Big Ten for a three meter diver.

The final relay of the night was the 200 freestyle relay. It featured Tori Beeler, Gwen Worlton, Jessica Pentlarge and Kaitlyn Barth. The quartet finished 13th (1:33.56) and ended another solid night for the Big Red.

After the ripples in the water settled, the Husker swimmers and divers remain in 10th place with 248 points after three days. Ohio State managed to increase its lead from the day prior with 1016 points, followed by Michigan with 855 and Indiana in third with 680. The Huskers will return to the pool tomorrow, Feb. 22, for the fourth and final day of the Big Ten Championship meet, beginning at 11 AM for the preliminary races.