Kuzhil Leads KU In Saturday Qualifying

Feb. 28, 2009

COLUMBIA, Mo. –

Kansas swimming and diving completed its final session of preliminaries Saturday morning at the Big 12 Championships in Columbia, Mo. The Jayhawks are once again led by Iuliia Kuzhil and Maria Mayrovich, both of whom earned berths in the finals later Saturday evening.

Kuzhil finished in seventh-place in the 200 yard backstroke with a school-record time of 1:58.05. The previous record was set by Jenny Short in 2007 in a time of 1:58.82. Kuzhil now owns both the 100 and 200 yard backstroke school-records. Finishing closely behind Kuzhil were Abigail Anderson and Carrah Haley, both of whom finished in ninth-place with a time of 1:58.77. Joining Anderson and Haley in the ‘B’ Finals will be Mel Heyrman who finished in 12th place with a time of 2:01.22.

Mayrovich continued to be one of the best freestylers at the Big 12’s with a fourth-place finish in the 100 yard freestyle. Her time of 49.10 was just .07 seconds off a season-best.

Joy Bunting led Kansas in the 200 yard breaststroke, finishing in 10th place in a time of 2:17.94. Bunting’s time was a team season-best performance. She will be joined in the ‘B’ final by Danielle Herrmann and Rhynn Malloy, who placed 14th and 16th, respectively.

Stephanie Payne narrowly missed a berth in the 200 yard butterfly finals, finishing ninth in a time of 2:00.57. The Potter twins, Alyssa and Brittany, will join Payne in the ‘B’ finals as they finished in 14th and 16th place.

Below are Kansas’ results from Saturday morning’s preliminary events. After Friday’s results, Kansas sits in fourth place with 333 points. For live results, please visit mutigers.com and check out video replays at big12sports.com.

Please check back with kuathletics.com for a report following each session at the Big 12 Championships. Event finals will begin tonight at 6 p.m.

Kansas’ Saturday Preliminary Results

200 Yard Backstroke

7. Iuliia Kuzhil – 1:58.05$$

9. Abigail Anderson – 1:58.77

9. Carrah Haley – 1:58.77

12. Mel Heyrman – 2:01.22

100 Yard Freestyle

4. Maria Mayrovich – 49.10

15. Emily Lanteigne – 50.41

23. Erin Goetz – 50.97

26. Anne Liggett – 51.35

30. Amanda Maez – 52.07

32. Jessica Brozek – 52.38

37. Sarah Hettenbach – 53.17

39. Lisa Dlugopolski – 53.22

200 Yard Breaststroke

10. Joy Bunting – 2:17.94**

14. Danielle Herrmann – 2:18.98

16. Rhynn Malloy – 2:20.83

24. Sarah Beth Edwards – 2:23.98

200 Yard Butterfly

9. Stephanie Payne – 2:00.57

14. Brittany Potter – 2:01.63

16. Alyssa Potter – 2:03.27

22. Kath Liggett – 2:06.65

23. Juliann Vignatelli – 2:06.93

26. Kendall Matous – 2:07.30

**-Team season-best performance

$$-New School record.