RCW: Sport Spotlight 4.36 (Swimming & Diving)

Big win for #KUswimdive over Nebraska! #RockChalk https://t.co/lrBy4EzaTI pic.twitter.com/XiwgyoOuDp

— Kansas Swim & Dive (@KUSwimDive) November 4, 2017

Cheers all around for the Kansas Classic????

A post shared by Kansas Swimming and Diving (@kuswimdive) on Nov 18, 2017 at 4:44pm PST

2017-18 Season Highlights

• The Jayhawks ended their successful 2017-18 season with a top-three finish at the Big 12 Championship, scoring 613 points and a NCAA Zone Diving Championship competitor.
• The Jayhawks hosted their second-annual Collegiate Open Water Nationals (CSCAA) at Lone Star Lake (Sept. 16) where freshman Lauryn Parrish led a Kansas trio in her first-ever collegiate race, finishing in fourth place. She was followed by sophomore Jenny Nusbaum in fifth and junior Haley Bishop in ninth.
• Diving pushed the team’s momentum forward in the diving well for their first dual meet of the season when hosting Liberty Oct. 6-7. The Jayhawks nailed a one-two-three finish in both the one-meter and three-meter events.
• The Jayhawks claimed the victory by winning 11 of the 19 events competed in against Liberty in KU’s first official dual meet of the season with a final score of 188.5-164.5.
• Freshman Crissie Blomquist posted a six-second personal-best time in the 1,000-yard freestyle to take the top spot in 10:13.93 against the Cornhuskers of Nebraska on Nov. 4 at Robinson Natatorium.
• Senior diver Nadia Khechfe was named the Big 12 Conference Co-Diver of the Week on Nov. 17 for her performances against Nebraska (Nov. 4).
• Nusbaum broke the two-year-old Kansas Classic meet record by 89-hundreths of a second (1:47.81) in the 200-yard freestyle with a two-second lead over runner-up Isabelle Morris of North Texas.
• The Kansas Classic 200-yard medley relay squad of freshman Manon Manning, sophomore Haley Downey, Bishop and Parrish had the second top-meet record time ever when they turned in a 1:41.90 for the crown in 2017 – 58-hundreths of a second off the record pace (1:41.32 in 2015).
• Of the 12 swimmers named to the Kansas Classic All-Invite Team for the three-day meet (Nov. 17-20) held at the Capitol Federal Natatorium in Topeka, KU sophomores Nusbaum and Downey earned that recognition as the Jayhawks’ top-two individual point scorers. Nusbaum scored a total of 71 points, while Downey swam for 64.
• The Jayhawks claimed victory over the William Jewell Cardinals (Jan. 18) for the fifth-straight year in dual fashion (130-64).
• The Kansas swimming and diving team garnered College Swimming Coaches Association (CSCAA) Scholar All-American Team recognition for the 31^st and 32^nd-consecutive semesters with an overall team grade point-average (GPA) of 3.38 for the Fall of 2017 and a 3.60 in the Spring of 2018.
• On day two of the 2018 Big 12 Swimming & Diving Championship, Madison Straight broke her season personal-best in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:02.88, placing seventh (Feb. 22).
• In addition, Taylor Sieperda broke her personal record in the 50-yard freestyle (23.28).
• Every 500-yard freestyle Kansas swimmer dropped times from prelims in the finals, as well as three lifetime-bests. Nusbaum placed fourth with a career-best time of 4:47.62. Parrish followed suit in fifth with a personal-best of 4:50.40. Nika Fellows placed seventh with a season-best time of 4:51.32.
• Manning, Downey, Bishop and Nusbaum posted the second-fastest 400-yard medley relay time in school history in 3:38.53 at the Big 12 Championship.
• Downey broke the 100-yard breaststroke school record twice in one day, finalizing the new school-record time of 1:01.43 in the ‘A’ finals.
• KU set 26 personal bests at the 2018 Big 12 Championship.
• Khechfe represented Kansas at the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in Minneapolis, Minnesota (March 5-7) to conclude her career in the Crimson and Blue.