Brull & Marks Give Kansas Boost During Final Day of Mizzou Invite
Dec. 4, 2011
Final Team Scores 
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Kansas swimming and diving team finished the Mizzou Invite on a high note Saturday, as they had six athletes finish in the top five of an event and one relay team finish as high as third. The solid finish to the three day event was highlighted by junior Brooke Brull’s performance in the 200 backstroke, where she finished first with a 1:59.49 time. The team would finish the three day event in third place with a total of 604 points.
“The team really rose to the challenge,” said KU head coach Clark Campbell. “They had a very good morning session and a number of the swimmers were better tonight, which was encouraging.”
One of those swimmers that had stellar a evening performance was freshman Deanna Marks who was faster in the finals of both the 200 back (2:02.60, 7th) and the 200 fly (2:02.69, 4th). Her 200 fly performance was a little more than a second slower than her teammate, Stephanie Payne (2:01.55), who finished third in the event, but was still fast enough for her lifetime best in the stroke.
Senior Abigail Anderson also had a top five finish to hang her cap on as she came in third during the 200 back (1:59.89), while junior transfer Svetlana Golovchun came in fifth in the 100 free (50.45). Sophomore Alison Lusk also had a better night swim, finishing sixth in the 200 breaststroke with her 2:16.37 time.
“We had a lot of swimmers go faster tonight than they did in the morning, after putting up really good times in prelims,” Campbell explained. “It was great to see them bounce back and respond well to us challenging them.”
Another bounce back performance for the resilient ‘Hawks was one of their 400 freestyle relay teams finishing third, with a time of 3:23.17. That ‘A’ squad consisted of Golovchun, Anderson, Brull and Morgan Sharp. Sharp and junior Alyssa Rudman happened to be two of the three additional Jayhawks who were in the top dozen half of an event Saturday night. Sharp finished with a 51.79 time and in 12th place of the 100 free, while Rudman also finished 12th, with a 2:03.94 time in the 200 back.
“It seems like everybody on the team is walking away from this weekend with at least a couple swims that they are going to be really happy with,” Campbell said.
Earlier in the day, junior diver Christy Cash compiled a performance that she would be satisfied with and it the process gave her teammates some momentum heading into the evening session. Cash finished in third place finish during the platform dive with her 216.30 score, which was only 9.30 points off her best dive at Kansas.
“Platform is one of Christy’s strongest events even though we aren’t able to train in it very much, so it was a real confidence booster for her,” said diving coach Eric Elliott. “After this meet we will have some time to get some more training in so she can really be ready for conference and maybe even NCAA’s.”
While Elliott and his divers look forward to more platform training, Campbell and his swimmers will have Sunday’s time trials to prepare for. The long course event is for swimmers hoping to attain a berth into the Olympic Trials next summer in Omaha, Nebraska. Senior Stephanie Payne already has two events she will be swimming in then, (200 fly, 400 IM) but will be looking to add the 200 IM to her resume.
Time trials get underway at 11 am in Columbia, log onto kuathletics.com following the session to see if any additional Jayhawks will be making the trip to Omaha with Payne next June.
RESULTS DAY #3: 1650 Free /100 Free /400 Free Relay /200 Back /200 Fly /Platform Dive
FINAL TEAM SCORES
1) Missouri 999
2) Boise St. 819
3)Kansas 604
4) N. Texas 485
5) UC Davis 477
6) Drury 294
7) N. Dakota 163
8) St. Louis 68
