Two Jayhawks Head for NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships

March 17, 2010

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Kansas swimming and diving will travel to West Lafayette, Ind. for the 2010 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships March 18-20. Senior diver Meghan Proehl and junior swimmer Iuliia Kuzhil will compete for the Crimson and Blue at the Boilermakers Aquatic Center on the campus of Purdue University. This marks the eighth-straight year that KU has sent athletes to the NCAAs.

Kuzhil, a native of Cherkasy, Ukraine, is making her second appearance at the swimming championships. Last year, Kuzhil placed 21st in the preliminaries of the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.06 seconds, narrowly missing qualifying for a finals berth by two tenths of a second.

This will be Proehl’s first trip to the national competition. The senior from San Diego, Calif., qualified for the 2010 NCAA Championships after a strong performance in the one-meter diving competition at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships, where she placed sixth with a 12-dive score of 538.90 points.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

ESPN360.com will stream the championships beginning at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 20. To access the live stream, visit www.ESPN360.com. Click on the FAQs link for software and system requirements, etc. Anyone with a .edu e-mail address is able to obtain access to ESPN360 at no cost. NCAA.com will stream supplemental coverage as available.

RESULTS

Official schedules and results for the events can be found on the NCAA website or at www.purduesports.com. Specific information and results regarding Kansas athletes will be available at www.kuathletics.com.

Iuliia Kuzhil NOTES

  • Kuzhil is making her second appearance at the NCAA Championships after a strong performance at the Big 12 Championships this year. She shattered the previous 100-yard backstroke record of 53:06 seconds (set by Kuzhil in 2009) with a new record time of 52.80.
  • Kuzhil holds or shares several Kansas records. Along with the 100-yard backstroke, she also holds the individual record for the 200-yard backstroke (1:54.76) and shares the records for the 200-yard freestyle relay, the 800-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard medley relay with her Kansas teammates from the 2009 season. All three of these records were set at last year’s Big 12 Championships.
  • Kuzhil will look to be the first All-American swimmer for Kansas in the 100-yard backstroke since Katie Chapeau placed 11th in that event at the 1993 NCAAs, held in Minneapolis, Minn.
  • At this year’s championships, Kuzhil will compete in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events.

Meghan Proehl NOTES

  • This season, Proehl has earned personal best scores in the one-meter, three-meter and platform dives. At the dual meet with Iowa State, Proehl recorded a career-high on the three-meter boards with a score of 303.38. She surpassed her personal best of 290.10 in the one-meter dive with a score of 299.97 at the Nebraska dual meet. Proehl also broke her personal record for the platform dive with a score of 212.05 at the 2010 Big 12 Championships.
  • Proehl will look to become the third Kansas All-American diver school history and second in two years. Former Kansas diver Erin Mertz received All-America accolades at last year’s national competition for her performance on the one-meter board.
  • In 1995, Michelle Rojohn became the first Kansas diver to be honored as an All-American when she placed 13th in the three-meter dive. The following year, Rojohn won the three-meter dive at the 1996 NCAA Championships, becoming Kansas’ only National Champion for diving and the Jayhawks’ only two-time All-American diver.
  • At this year’s championships, Proehl will compete in the one-meter, three-meter and platform diving competitions.

LAST YEAR

– At the 2009 NCAA Championships, Kansas finished with 12 points.

– Mertz scored all 12 of those points in the one-meter dive. She placed seventh with a final tally of 298.40.

– Former Kansas standout Maria Mayrovich placed 20th in the preliminaries of the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.39 seconds. She also took 21st in the prelims of the 200-yard freestyle and 19th in the prelims of the 100-yard freestyle.

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