Jayhawks place third at CSCAA Open Water Championships
LAWRENCE, KAN. – Three veteran and three newbie Kansas swimmers paced the Jayhawks to a third-place finish at the 2018 College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Open Water National Championship Saturday morning at Lone Star Lake.
Junior Jenny Nusbaum led the KU pack with a time of 1:03:23.85, finishing eighth. Senior Haley Bishop took 12th with a time of 1:03:41.65, while freshman Claire Campbell claimed 20th with a time of 1:05:16.78 to round out the scoring trio.
The 5,000-meter swim (roughly 3.1 miles) was a first for Campbell, as she managed to navigate the course ahead of her fellow newcomers to the event in freshman Katie Callahan (1:08:07.33) and sophomore Crissie Blomquist (1:09:02.64).
“I was surprised how violent the beginning of the race was,” Callahan said of her first open water event. “I definitely had a few hits to the face, but I recovered and started to figure out where I was going. The first lap was more brutal than I was expecting, but after that, it was all good.”
Sophomore Lauryn Parrish was the other Jayhawk in the competition and finished the race with a time of 1:06:42.12.
Missouri took the team national title placing first, second and fourth, respectively. Audrey Guyett (1:03:06.31) took the individual championship, while Ana Pozder (1:03:07.28) and Azra Avdic (1:03:10.20) finished inside the top-four.
NOTABLE
- Missouri’s team title snaps a two-year streak where Kansas claimed the top spot (2016-17).
- The competition has doubled since it’s inaugural year in 2016.
- Seventy-one women competed in this year’s swim, while the men’s competition featured 62.
- Kansas has placed at least one swimmer in the top eight in each of the three years of the event.
UP NEXT
Kansas will host an alumni meet on Friday, September 28 at 3 p.m. inside Robinson Natatorium in celebration of Homecoming Weekend.
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