Huskers Drop Dual at Minnesota

Madesyn Ronquillio, Shannon Stott and Milica Opacic recorded individual victories but it was not enough to prevent the Nebraska swimming and diving team from suffering its first dual loss of the season with a 189-107 setback at Minnesota on Friday evening.

Nebraska slipped to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in Big Ten duals, while Minnesota improved to 2-0 with its second Big Ten victory to open the season.

"Minnesota is a traditional Big Ten powerhouse so it was a really good opportunity to measure ourselves against the top level of the conference," Nebraska Head Coach Pablo Morales said. "We came into this meet thinking we could be competitive, and I think to a certain extent we accomplished our goals."

Ronquillio, a senior from Tracy, Calif., notched Nebraska's first win in the 200 backstroke before Stott added a win in the 500 freestyle. Opacic, a freshman from Novi Sad, Serbia, rounded out the trio of Husker champions with a win in the 100 butterfly just ahead of teammate Lexi Kucera.

"Madesyn Ronquillio got the ball rolling for us with the 200 backstroke with a great race, very well executed catching the two Minnesota swimmers on the back half," Morales said.

Ronquillio added a third-place finish in the 100 backstroke as well.

Stott (St. Albans, Great Britain) added a runner-up finish in the 200 butterfly on the night, while Opacic also contributed a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle. Opacic also swam legs on NU's runner-up 400 free relay and third-place 200 medley relay. 

Opacic was joined by senior Autumn Haebig, sophomore Ella Stein and junior Emily Haimes in the third-place 200 medley relay to kick off the meet. The trio of Haebig, Opacic and Haimes also swam together in the 400 freestyle relay, where they were joined by Kucera to swim to a runner-up finish.

Haebig (Grafton, Wis.) also notched a runner-up finish in the 200 freestyle and a third-place finish in the 500 free, rounding out her four top-three finishes on the evening. 

Stein (Hudson, Wis.) contributed a solid showing in the breaststroke events, taking third in both the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke. Freshman Maia Hall added a fourth-place showing in the 100 breaststroke.

Senior Audrey Coffey put up a third-place swim in the 1,000 freestyle, scoring points on the distance side. In the 200 individual medley, sophomore Sarah Barton and junior Berkeley Livingston pitched in second- and third-place finishes.

Senior Sara Troyer notched a pair of runner-up finishes on the one and three-meter boards to lead Nebraska's diving corps.

Nebraska travels to Iowa State tomorrow to take on the Cyclones in a dual at 11 a.m. 

Minnesota 189, Nebraska 107
Friday, Oct. 29, 2021
Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center (Minneapolis, Minn.)

Husker Champions
100 butterfly - Milica Opacic (55.07)
200 backstroke - Madesyn Ronquillio (2:01.27)
500 freestyle - Shannon Stott (4:55.54)