Jayhawks fall at Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In the final road test before the conference championships, the Kansas swimming and diving team fell to Arkansas, 172-128, Saturday morning inside the UREC Natatorium.
The Jayhawks swam tough against the competition breaking individual and school records, finishing the meet with 22 top-three podium spots.
Sophomore Crissie Blomquist swam her way into a second place and personal-best in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:10.02. Freshman Katie Callahan also swam an individual top-time in the same event with a finish of 10:26.12.
Sophomore Manon Manning touched the wall in the 100-yard backstroke for a first-place finish and individual top-time of 53.70. Manning receiving another first-place in the 200-yard backstroke later (1:58.32) when the Jayhawks went one-two-three on the podium. Following Manning was junior Elizabeth Amato-Hanner (2:00.51) and sophomore Lauryn Parrish (2:02.46).
The diving well showed just as much action when senior Vicky Xu dove her way to a second place finish on the one-meter springboard (310.73) and a first-place finish on the three-meter springboard (398.63).
Xu’s three-meter score bumped her previously Kansas school record and created a new one, brushing past Arkansas’ defending NCAA Champion by .38 points. With that score, Xu managed to break the Arkansas pool record in that same event.
Junior Peri Charapich and freshman Alison Grass followed with individual top scores of 237.38 and 226.28, respectively.
KEY RACES
- Junior Jenny Nusbaum touched the wall first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:48.57.
- Sophomore Manon Manning swam her way into first in the 100-yard backstroke with an individual top-time of 53.70.
- Manning swam another first-place swim in the 200-yard backstroke with a mark of 1:58.32.
- Senior Vicky Xu nailed a first-place and record-breaking score of 398.63 on the three-meter springboard.
- The Jayhawks closed the competition with a first-place in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:24.95. The squad consisted of Nusbaum, Manning, freshman Claire Campbell and junior Carly Straight.
QUOTES
Head coach Clark Campbell
Overall performances:
“It was really good, all of our divers did well. It was our best dive meet with all three of them all year. I was really happy with how well Vicky did and also Peri and Alison had really good meets too. The swimming side of things were really good, both relays, the 200-yard medley and the 400-yard freestyle were the fastest we have been yet in a dual meet this year. We had a lot of good individual performances too. Jenny Nusbaum’s 200-yard freestyle was really good and then Manon Mannning both in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke were solid swims. The 100-yard backstroke was her (Manning’s) lifetime-best time which was really good to see and the 200-yard backstroke was her second-best time. Elizabeth Amato-Hanner was really good in both backstrokes and the 200-yard individual medley as well. Greta Olsen was turning it up in the butterfly events and Crissie Blomquist did really well in the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyles. Katie Callahan and Libby Walker did well, they did a really tough double from the 1,000 freestyle all the way to the 200 butterfly to replicate what they will do at the Big 12 Championship. In all our goal was to come down here and compete and fine tune, and we did both of those really well.”
How everyone handled the last travel meet:
“They really zoned in from the time we left on taking care of business and we didn’t miss a beat. We got down here and had a really good workout and then got up this morning and raced really well. So you can’t be disappointed with that. We are having a difficult time right now finishing races, and that is just because of where we are in the training cycle, it will come. It is the beginning of February and they are a bit tired just from the type of work that we are doing. For them to battle through that and fight through the end on every race is really good to see.”
The overall thoughts on going against Arkansas:
“We were getting out touched. Their meets are a little earlier than ours and they are a bit further down and are sharp. So they were finishing their races really well and it is good for them with their meet being a couple weeks for their championships meet, but we still have a month until our conference meet, so we are just at a different place right now in our training. We knew going in that it was going to be tough being as tired and not being very fresh and the first thing that goes is the end of your race because it is tough to do when you are fatigued from what you did Monday through Friday. But like I said, they did a great job battling until the end.”
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks are set to host Iowa State for a two-day dual Feb. 8 and 9 inside Robinson Natatorium.
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