Kansas Earns Friday Night Win Over Iowa State, 181-117

Friday, February 7

Lawrence, Kan.

3 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

181

117

Iowa State

Kansas Earns Friday Night Win Over Iowa State, 181-117

2/7/2025 4:55:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Results

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Sophomore diver Shiyun Lai set a Robinson Natatorium pool record in the one-meter dive with 336.30 points while helping Kansas women's swim and dive to a 181-117 win over the Iowa State Cyclones in final dual action of the season on Friday evening.

"It was a really good meet, we competed well," said Kansas head coach Clark Campbell. "I was telling our team in our post-race wrap up that the last meet of the year is one of the most bipolar meets of the entire season because you have people that are feeling really good and some people that are just not feeling it yet. But that's okay because the point is to peak at the end of the month and everyone has different responses to their training."

Hailing in the first gold of the day was the group of Lezli Sisung, Ryan Johnston, Lydia Lafferty and Caroline Blake in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:40.78. Next up in the 1000 free was Tait Haag, who earned herself second place at 10:07.66.

Jayhawk swimmers dominated in the ensuing two races, sweeping the top three spots with Eleni Kotzamanis (1:49.14) leading the way as Gabi Dyer (1:49.94) and Hailey Farrell (1:50.91) succeeded for second and third, respectively, in the 200 free. Lafferty found her second win of the day in the 100 back at 54.73 as Sisung (55.39) picked up another second place finish and Howe (55.90) with the third place finish.

Quickly making their way back into the pool, Johnston and Robinson each collected another podium finish as Johnston (1:02.12) secured second and Robinson (1:03.52) a third in the 100 breast to push Kansas to a 62-31 KU edge over Iowa State.

More Jayhawks gathered podium finishes in the 200 fly as Geartheart (2:02.99) snagged the silver while Maya Lambert (2:04.61) earned bronze. The shortest race sought tight finishes but it was Blake who prevailed, touching the wall in 23.39 to claim her second victory on the day.

Kotzamanis sustained her dominant performance, winning the 100 free by almost a whole second at 50.84, as Izzy Satterlee (51.75) and Blake (51.79) followed in suit with second and third finishes of their own.

Bradie Ward added her own first place finish to the Kansas collection as she commanded the 200 back by almost three seconds, securing her win in 1:59.95. In the next race, Johnston (2:16.55) nabbed third place in the 200 breast helping the Jayhawks push their lead to 127-80.

Kansas notched another sweep in the 500 free as Dyer took the victory with a time of 4:53.27, while Farrell (4:59.17) landed in second and Haag (5:02.56) in third. Lafferty continued to be a force in the pool as she earned her third win in the 100 fly at 54.38 while Gearheart trailed for second at 55.45. Farrell (2:05.56) picked up the last individual Jayhawk medal in the 200 IM as she placed third.

Rounding out the day in the same way it started, the Jayhawks secured the final dual victory in the 400 free relay as Blake, Kotzamanis, Howe and Hyatt swam 3:24.92, resulting into the final score of Kansas 181, Iowa State 117.

"I'm happy with the way we competed today but we had some people put up some amazing swims," Campbell added. "I thought Lydia Lafferty in both the 100 fly and 100 back was really good. And Gabi Dyer in her races was really good. Eleni [Kotzamanis] had a really good, gritty 100 and 200 free. So we're kind of where I thought we would be, so now the best time of year is coming up with championship season and tapering. The team is looking forward to coming down a little bit and resting and feeling good for Federal Way."

ON THE BOARDS
Lai maintained her stellar performance on the boards as she captured another win in the three-meter with 401.18 points, crushing her last outing by over 60 points. En route to another win in the one-meter dive, Lai set a new Robinson pool record with 336.30 points, breaking the previous best set by Vicky Xu in 2019 with 330.15 points. Lize van Leeuwen reaped two silvers in the three-meter with 291.68 points and in the one-meter with 286.95 points.

UP NEXT
Kansas will host the Jayhawk First Chance meet at Robinson Natatorium on Feb. 14-15.