Jayhawks trek to Iowa State for final dual meet

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas swimming and diving team hits the road for one final tune-up meet before the Big 12 Championship Friday, Feb. 2, when the Jayhawks travel to Ames, Iowa, for a two-day dual against Iowa State.
 
Head coach Clark Campbell looks forward to this meet every year, as it has been on the docket as long as he can remember.
 
“What is cool about this week is that Iowa State is the only school left with us in the conference from the Big Eight days,” Campbell said. “It has turned into a very natural rivalry that has lasted since the 1970’s. So this team (Iowa State) is the team that we have had the most consecutive amount of duals against every year since I can remember. It is a rival meet and it is a fellow Big 12 opponent, and we’ve been taking this meet back for a long time and have a long history. It always brings out the best in both schools.”
 
Although this is a familiar dual meet for the Jayhawks, the team is taking a different approach as the meet switches back to a two-day competition. The squad will have to adapt in and out of competition mode this weekend as it experiences a break in the middle. This is compared to the mental and physical ambiance of cranking out all events in one evening.
 
“I think it will be beneficial,” Campbell said. “We kind of go back to what we were doing in the fall for the first couple of meets, but this one we don’t add those extra relays. It is going to be that normal amount of racing that we do in one day split over two days. I know that they are looking forward to getting their first half of the event order done and then getting a chance to sleep and get up and race again the next day. That is what you really need to do in conference, get it done and then bounce back quickly the next day for the next event. It does replicate a little bit of what we go through at the Big 12 Championship.”
 
With the Big 12 Championship right around the corner, Feb. 21-24, the team is ready to make alterations and a game plan for what will set the Jayhawks up to have a successful meet, starting with this meet against the Cyclones.
 
“We will be making final evaluations on a number of things going into the conference meet,” Campbell said. “We are looking at who is going to be on relays and who is going to be doing what events. It is that ‘final check’, if you will. For racing, we still have some training to do, so this is that final audition before the main performance and it will be good to see.”
 
The team has yet to take a bus ride all season to a competition so it will be a new setting for some of the swimmers and divers on the team. They will all have to adapt quickly and preform at their highest ability this weekend.
 
“It is a little bit challenging on Friday because we have a five-hour bus ride and we get right off of the bus and practice so that puts them in a bit of a challenging situation,” Campbell said. “It is our one and only team bus trip all year, so we get up there to start racing, race the next day and then come on home. We want them to preform really well, but there are going to be some challenges along the way and those types of challenges are stepping stones to success.”
 
Friday’s portion of the meet starts at 6 p.m. in Beyer Pool, while Saturday’s events begin at 10 a.m.
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