Jayhawks look to set program records at Big 12 Championship
Big 12 Championship
Info Big 12 Championship Central
Date February 22-25, 2017
Location Austin, Texas
Venue Jamail Swimming Center
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Meet Schedule
Wednesday, February 22
Preliminaries | 2:30 p.m. start
One-meter dive (men’s)
Finals | 4:00 p.m. start
200-yard medley relay
One-meter dive (men’s)
800-yard freestyle relay
Thursday, February 23
Preliminaries | 10:00 a.m. start
500-yard freestyle
200-yard individual medley
50-yard freestyle
400-yard medley relay
One-meter dive (women’s)
Finals | 6:00 p.m. start
500-yard freestyle
200-yard individual medley
50-yard freestyle
One-meter dive (women’s)
400-yard medley relay
Friday, February 24
Preliminaries | 10:00 a.m. start
100-yard butterfly
400-yard individual medley
200-yard freestyle
100-yard breaststroke
100-yard backstroke
200-yard freestyle relay
Three-meter dive
Finals | 5:00 p.m. start
Three-meter dive (women’s)
100-yard butterfly
400-yard individual medley
200-yard freestyle
100-yard breaststroke
100-yard backstroke
Three-meter dive (men’s)
200-yard freestyle relay
Saturday, February 25
Preliminaries | 10:00 a.m. start
200-yard backstroke
100-yard freestyle
200-yard breaststroke
200-yard butterfly
400-yard freestyle relay
Platform dive
Finals | 4:30 p.m. start
Platform dive (men’s)
200-yard backstroke
100-yard freestyle
200-yard breaststroke
200-yard butterfly
400-yard freestyle relay
Platform dive (women’s)
LAWRENCE, Kan. – A year after reaching new heights at the 2016 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championship, Kansas will return to Texas’ Jamail Swimming Center in Austin, Texas, February 22-25, with its sights set on raising the bar even higher. At the very least, the expectation for the program is to record a top-two finish in the conference for the second-straight year, and the third time in four years.
The Jayhawks have spent the two weeks after dominating Big 12 foe Iowa State 180-114 in a dual meet putting the finishing touches on a season-long training regimen designed to provide peak performances at the Big 12 Championship and tapering its training.
“Ever since we’ve returned from Christmas break we’ve been doing really well with our preparation, training and following the sequence that we need to,” head coach Clark Campbell said. “The dual meets in January and early February went really well and now we’ve started the taper part. They look good, they’re enthusiastic and you can tell they’re getting their energy and strength back. They’re going to be new swimmers at conference.”
Previous clashes with Big 12 competition indicate a successful outing for the Jayhawks, as they claimed a 190-108 dual victory over Texas Christian and an additional victory against Iowa State, placing ahead of the Cyclones at the Kansas Classic. The conference championship will serve as KU’s first time swimming against Texas and West Virginia this season.
Though last year’s edition of Kansas swimming and diving placed second and set a program record for most points at a Big 12 Championship with 650.5, Campbell is optimistic last year’s performance will prove to be a point along the program’s growth, which he expects to continue this year.
“Each team, each year is different,” Campbell said. “Our goal when we go down there is for each of us to be the best version of ourselves. We can’t control a lot of things that happen but if we go down there and we’re the best versions of ourselves, we’re going to accomplish a lot. I think this team can be better than last year. We have to execute, stay within ourselves, keep the races in our lane and just be the best we can.”
One of the major pieces of last year’s success was graduated swimmer Chelsie Miller, who led the team with 50 points from individual races. There are many candidates on the current roster who can replace the level of point production, ranging from experienced members of the team who have made the incremental improvements this year to raise their performance to a new level to newer faces that can convert their potential into points on the leaderboard.
“We have a lot of people who have the ability to be the next Chelsie Miller, this will be the breakout meet for them,” Campbell said. “We have the seniors, who are doing really well and competing at a high level. The sophomores and juniors have been there and done that before, but each of them are performing at a higher level than they’ve ever done. The freshman, we don’t know what their ceiling is. We’re in a really good spot, we’re excited and we can’t wait to get down there. I really do believe this team has the ability to do something really special.”
During Campbell’s tenure at Kansas, the conversation at this point of the season has morphed from how Kansas will avoid a last-place finish to if the Jayhawks can continue breaking program records in conference competition. This year will close what is arguably the most successful four-year stretch in program history, with KU’s only top-two finishes in the Big 12 Championship occurring in the past three years.
“I really appreciate (my first team at Kansas) because they set the tone,” said Campbell. “For the seniors that year, I was their third head coach and it was a rough go. They came in and committed to kicking butt regardless. It set the tone for the rest of my time here. We’ve gotten progressively better, but it was set in motion that very first year. We were way more competitive that year at the conference championship meet and every year we find a way to fine-tune and make it better. Now we’re one of the top two in the conference.”
Accompanying Kansas in the Big 12’s top two is Texas, who is aiming for its fifth-straight conference title. Texas has secured 14 of the last 20 Big 12 Championships, dating back to its inception in 1996. The Longhorns captured the 2016 conference title with a 392.5-point gap between them and the second-place Jayhawks.
The meet will begin Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. with the men’s one-meter dive. The women will start at 4 p.m. with the 200-yard medley and 800-yard freestyle relays. Following Wednesday’s competition the meet will include prelims sessions at 10 a.m. each morning and finals at 6 p.m. in the evening. The top-eight times from each prelims race will advance to the ‘A’ finals with the next eight swimmers competing in the ‘B’ finals. Both finals will contribute to the overall team scores. The diving well will host one and three-meter springboard diving and a five-meter platform dive. The Big 12 will partner will FloSports to provide live and on-demand coverage of the conference championships.
In addition to a high finish at the Big 12s, Kansas will also look to place swimmers in a good position to qualify for the NCAA Championship. KU already has made the ‘B’ cut for three races; the 100-yard butterfly (Haley Bishop), 100 backstroke (Yulduz Kuchkarova) and 200 backstroke (Kuchkarova), and is knocking at the door for several others. Bishop and Kuchkarova can further improve their candidacy for the NCAAs by shaving time off of their ‘B’ cut swims.
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