Kansas has record-breaking performances at William Jewell

LIBERTY, Mo.  – The Kansas swimming and diving team earned its sixth-straight dual-meet victory Wednesday evening after dominating the lanes at William Jewell, 149-50, inside the Mabee Center.
 
The Jayhawks’ kept a consistent stride throughout the meet winning all eleven events they competed in. To add to the successes, the team tallied an impressive four Mabee Center pool records during their lively performances against the Cardinals.
 
Junior Jenny Nusbaum was first on the blocks to set a pool record when she swam a 9:02.86 in the 800-meter freestyle, breaking the previous time set by herself two years ago (9:03.15).
 
Freshman Greta Olsen then worked her way to the top by breaking the 100-meter butterfly pool record set in 2015 with a time of 1:03.09 to keep the momentum rolling.
 
Following the trend, freshman Kate Steward swam a time of 1:12.35 in the 100-meter breaststroke to set the third pool record of the evening, swimming past the previous mark of 1:13.24.
 
To gain the Jayhawks’ a fourth spot on the record board, the 200-meter freestyle relay squad touched the wall in 1:48.34. The foursome of Nusbaum, senior Taylor Sieperda, sophomore Manon Manning and junior Haley Downey rounded out the evening with that performance.

KEY RACES

  • The Jayhawks’ opening 200-meter medley relay of Manning, Steward, freshman Kaitlyn Witt and junior Carly straight took the first gold of the evening with a 1:59.44 finish.
  • Nusbaum swam her way to a win and a pool record time of 9:02.86 in the 800-meter freestyle.
  • Senior Haley Bishop claimed victory in the 200-meter freestyle closing the event with a time of 2:07.93.
  • Manning swam her way into first in the 50-meter freestyle with a quick time of 27.48.
  • Junior Haley Downey swam a winning time of 4:59.50 in the 400-meter individual medley.
  • The second pool record of the evening was set by Olsen in the 100-meter butterfly touching the wall with a winning time of 1:03.09.
  • Nusbaum earned another gold with a 58.30 swim in the 100-meter freestyle.
  • Sieperda takes home first in the 100-meter backstroke, touching the wall at 1:05.21.
  • Sophomore Crissie Blomquist saw her way into first in the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 4:23.52.
  • Steward claimed gold in the 100-meter breaststroke, breaking the pool record with a 1:12.35.
  • The Jayhawks concluded the competition winning the 200-meter freestyle relay with a fourth pool record (1:48.34). The foursome consisted of Nusbaum, Sieperda, Manning and Down

QUOTES
Head coach Clark Campbell
How the overall meet went for the team:
“Overall it was really good. When we got back from Northern Arizona our goals for this week were to put in three really tough days in a row, this was our third day and they did great. We looked at coming over here and doing the meet as an important part of our training. We had really good, tough training on Monday and Tuesday, so we were a little tired, but they really stepped up to the challenge and got into the meet. They were very supportive of teammates and we had a lot of good things happen in the pool.”
 
Competing with a local college this week:
“It is really good for the swimming community when all of the local colleges can get together and have meets and support one another. We are all about swimming at this level whether it is Division I, II or III, NAIA, whatever it is. And with our area now having a lot of growth in the college swimming smaller level, I think it is really important for KU to support our smaller teams and occasionally have competitions with them and really promote the sport at a collegiate level.”
 
The team excitement on having four pool records:
“Jenny (Nusbaum) two years ago set the pool record with a technical suit to get the feel for it before conference. We did not wear those this year so Jenny was a little bit handicap going into the race as opposed to two years ago, and she just swam faster. Greta Olsen’s 100 butterfly record – she had a great winter training from the get-go from what we were doing before Christmas to what we were doing after in Flagstaff, (Arizona). Kate (Steward) – we are making some fine tuning adjustments to her stroke and she really caught on quick with it and so it was really good to see how fast she went today. And then the 200 freestyle relay was a really nice relay to end the meet. It was almost a three-second time drop from the pool record before, so we really feel good about where we are right now speed wise knowing that we still have a lot more to give, but it is nice to know where we are right now.”

UP NEXT
The Jayhawks travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas to compete against the Razorbacks Saturday, Feb. 2 at 10 a.m.  
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