Jayhawk Swimmers and Divers Fall To #15 Missouri, 185-102
Nov. 11, 2011
KU vs MU Results 
Coach Campbell on Mizzou meet Cox on team’s & her performance
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Led by junior Rebecca Swank’s effort in the 1000 yard-freestyle, the Kansas Jayhawks took three straight events following the opening 400-yard medley relay, Friday night against Missouri, but were unable to come out on top, falling to the 15th ranked Tigers 185-102 at Robinson Natatorium. With the loss, Kansas falls to 3-3 on the year and 0-1 in conference competition, while MU won their second meet in as many nights and improved to 4-1 in 2011-12 and 1-1 in the Big 12.
“I thought we performed at a pretty high level tonight,” said KU coach Clark Campbell. “Of the three ranked teams we have swam against this season, this was our best performance.”
Swank finished first with a 10:09.94 time in the 1000 free, while senior captain Shannon Garlie matched her teammate’s effort with a first place finish of her own in the 200 free (1:51.93). Freshman Deanna Marks would then make it three events won in a row with a 58.28 time in the 100 backstroke.
“We had four of our athletes not in the meet tonight because they were either sick or injured and they are four of our top athletes,” Campbell said. “It was unfortunate not to have them, but Rebecca Swank had a really big swim in the one thousand free and Shannon Garlie stepped up huge in both the 100 and 200 free. Morgan Sharp and Shelby Cox both had really good swims and Deanna Marks continued to impress.”
Sharp would claim an event of her own, coming in first in the 500 free (5:01.45), while Cox would have a solid meet, finishing with a 24.81 time in the 50 free and at 53.91 in the 100 free.
“I don’t think the scoreboard showed how great we did tonight,” Cox said. “We all swam really well individually.”
Other individual performances of note include, junior Svetlana Golovchun’s second place finish in the 50 free (24.13), Stephanie Payne’s second place performance in the 400 IM (4:26.99) and Kath Liggett coming in third in the 100 fly, with her 59.17 time. Golovchun, the transfer from Surgut, Russia has now finished second or better in an event for three straight dual meets.
“Against Missouri we have to shoot straight from the hip and swim our best events,” Campbell said. “We were able to compete against really good talent tonight and had some people step up big time.”
On the boards, both divers had solid performances to hang their caps on. In the three-meter dive, sophomore Alyssa Golden finished second with a 246.96 score, and in the one-meter, junior Christy Cash finished third with her 265.43 score.
Kansas will have a week to rest before they jump back into the pool at Robinson Natatorium and host the University of Nebraska-Omaha, next Saturday, Nov. 19 in Lawrence. The meet will begin at 11am and marks the first of two straight home duals that Kansas will host over Nebraska schools, as they will take on the Cornhuskers in mid-January.
