Jayhawks open strong at USA Winter Nationals

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior Jenny Nusbaum finished top-12 in the 400-meter freestyle Thursday night at the 2018 USA Swimming Winter National Championships inside the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
 
Nusbaum’s swim in Thursday evening’s 400-meter freestyle B Final event landed her in fourth place in the heat with a time of 4:18.89.
 
Prior to the final session, three Jayhawks, including Nusbaum, competed in preliminary events with two posting personal-best times at the conclusion of the morning’s session in both the 400-meter freestyle and the 200-meter individual medley.
 
Nusbaum started the trend when she swam a career-best time of 4:18.68 in the 400-meter freestyle. Her ninth-place finish placed her into the consolation finals where she posted that top-12 finish.
 
“She (Nusbaum) has gone to some National Championships meets before and this will be the first time she is in a final,” head coach Clark Campbell said. “This is a big step for Jenny and she did it with a really nice and controlled swim. She swam the 400 free the way that you need to swim it to get a best time and picked up a lane tonight and I know she is excited to try and go even faster.”
 
Following Nusbaum, junior Elizabeth Amato-Hanner and Haley Downey dove into the 200-meter individual medley preliminary event. Amato-Hanner swam her personal-best time of 2:21.16 followed by Downey’s time of 2:21.61.
 
“We started this meet really well,” Campbell said. “To have three swim and come away with two best times for long-course, something we haven’t raced in a while was really encouraging. They go the team excited and really looking forward to tomorrow where we will have all seven racing.”
 
Nusbaum will start off the Kansas swimmers tomorrow in the third event of Friday morning, the 200-meter freestyle with a seedtime of 2:02.81.
 
Downey and freshman Kate Steward will follow Nusbaum in the 100-meter breaststroke competition.
 
Amato-Hanner, sophomores Manon Manning and Lauryn Parrish and freshman Dewi Blose will close out the preliminary events of the Friday morning session in the 100-meter backstroke.
 
“We have a lot of racing tomorrow,” Campbell said. “But to start it the way we did this morning has everyone looking forward to each and every race.”
 
Preliminary events begin at 8 a.m. (CT) Friday morning, starting with the 400-meter individual medley and the 100-meter butterfly.
 
Fans can watch the preliminary rounds via a live feed on USASwimming.org and tune in during Thursday and Friday evenings’ final events on the Olympic Channel or NBCSports.com.

UP NEXT
The Jayhawks continue the Winter National Championships Friday morning with preliminary rounds beginning at 8 a.m. (CT).
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