LAWRENCE, Kan. – Saturday marked the fifth home meet for the Kansas swimming and diving team as they defeated Rockhurst in dominant fashion on Saturday at Robinson Natatorium, 177-62.
Kansas started the meet off on the right foot with five consecutive first-place finishes. The relay team of Bradie Ward, Lezli Sisung, Molly Robinson, and Keyla Brown won the 200-yard medley with a time of 1:42.63.
Shortly after that, Kansas would continue to cruise as freshman Gracyn O’Mara took first in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:24.37), senior Claudia Dougan took first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:51.91), Ward took first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 56.78 seconds, and senior Emma Walker finished in first with a time of 1:04.91 in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Kansas would continue to rack up the first-place finishes throughout the meet as super-senior Amelie Lessing claimed first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.61 seconds. After that, Dougan grabbed her second first-place finish of the day with a 51.10 time in the 100-yard freestyle. Sisung also picked up another first-place finish as she clocked a 2:02.79 in the 200-yard backstroke.
Later in the meet, another Jayhawk would collect her second first-place finish of the day as Walker claimed first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:19.95. Sophomore Lydia Lafferty claimed first in the 100 yard butterfly, finishing with a time of 55.57.
"We haven't had a meet like this following a midseason event in several years, so we were thankful to get some competition in. It was really important to see how we were today compared to how we were at the midseason invite. I'm really happy with how we performed overall. We hope to see competition at our training trip, but we are ready to get to work and prepare for the championship season."
Head Coach Clark Campbell
Kansas diving was no exception to the dominant win either as the divers swept the podium against the Hawks. In the three-meter diving event, freshman Shiyun Lai took first with a total score of 332.18, sophomore Lize Van Leeuwen totaled 330.15 points, which was good for second place, and sophomore Gabriela San Juan Carmona placed third in the event with a total of 319.28.
In one-meter diving, Kansas swept the podium once again, taking the top five places again in the event. Lai took first once again, with Carmona taking second and Leeuwen taking third. Senior Lauren Gryboski qualified for a NCAA zone cut diving spot in Saturday’s meet as well.
Kansas would close out the meet with O’Mara picking up her second win of the day, this time coming in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:30.30. Addi Barnes, who was named the “Swimmer of the Meet”, picked up a win in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:06.30. The relay team of Caroline Blake, Keyla Brown, Ainsley Dillon and Mia Waldron capped off the afternoon with a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay, racing a time of 1:34.84.
UP NEXT
This concludes the fall season for Kansas Swim and Dive. The Jayhawks will kick off their spring season with their annual Crimson vs. Blue exhibition meet at Robinson Natatorium on January 19 at 4:00 p.m. CT.
