Kansas sweeps TCU
LAWRENCE, Kan. – For the second meet in a row, Kansas swim and dive came out of the blocks fast and continued to gain momentum as the Jayhawks defeated TCU in the first dual meet of the season on Saturday afternoon inside Robinson Natatorium.
The Jayhawks set the tone with the first event and never let up, downing the Horned Frogs with a score of 206.5-92.5. Saturday afternoon started off with a quick win and the trend continued from there. The Jayhawks swam their way to gold in all 14 swimming event of the afternoon and swept the top-three places in five of those events. The Jayhawks stood on the top-three podium a total of 32 times at the conclusion of the dual, eight of whom were freshmen.
Sophomore Crissie Blomquist, junior Jenny Nusbaum and freshman Kate Steward each won multiple individual events during of the meet, totaling a combined 63 individual points for the team’s overall score.
The diving well came to the crowd’s attention with freshman Alison Grass and Junior Peri Charapich showing their presence as Grass completed her collegiate-best scores on the one-meter springboard (225.90) and three-meter springboard (195.30). Charapich concluded her second meet of the season with a score of 186.38 on the one-meter springboard and a third-place finishing score of 224.25 on the three-meter springboard.
KEY RACES
- The Jayhawks opened the meet with a gold-metal win in the 200-yard medley relay with a winning time of 1:44.30. The relay consisted of sophomore Manon Manning, junior Haley Downey, freshman Kaitlyn Witt and senior Taylor Sieperda.
- Blomquist touched the wall first in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:12.07, shaving nearly nine seconds off her time from the double dual against South Dakota and Missouri State.
- Nusbaum added to her first-place finish count on the year with victory in the 200-yard freestyle, clocking a winning time of 1:49.41.
- Mannon won Kansas’ fourth event of the day, the 100-yard backstroke, with a time of 00:56.30.
- Freshman Kate Steward claimed her first individual victory as a Jayhawk in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in 1:04.31.
- Senior Haley Bishop continued KU’s winning ways with a victory in the 200-yard butterfly, clocking a first-place time of 2:05.29.
- In the seventh event of the meet, Sieperda placed first in the 50-yard freestyle with a winning time of 00:24.33.
- Nusbaum earned her second gold medal of the day in the 100-yard freestyle, clocking a time of 00:51.56.
- Sophomore Lauryn Parrish claimed a first-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing in 2:02.00.
- Steward brought home her second individual victory in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:19.26.
- In the 12th event of the meet, Bloomquist earned her second long distance victory in the 500-yard freestyle. She touched the wall first with a winning time of 4:58.64.
- Witt claimed her first individual victory of the meet in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing in 00:56.54.
- Steward won her third event of the day in the 200-yard individual medley, clocking a time of 2:07.14.
- In the final event of the meet, the Jayhawks touched the wall first in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:29.41. The winning relay team included Bishop, Nusbaum, Parrish and anchored by junior Carly Straight.
QUOTES
Head coach Clark Campbell
How KU won all swimming events:
“We came out really focused. With all of the hard training we have been doing, it is really important that you have to let the mind take over. With the training we are doing Monday through Friday, the racing can go one of two ways, you either have a good meet or not a good meet. So after a good week of training, you really need to get the mind focused, zoned in and ready to preform. I thought for the most part about 80 percent of us were ready to do that. We got off to a good start and just kept the ball rolling like we did a couple of weeks ago.”
With it being the middle of ‘Rocktober’:
“From a competition standpoint, I can’t be more pleased because our focus has been really good and to top it off with the races that we have been doing lately it has proven to them that they are tough mentally and physically.”
Any race in particular that stood out:
“There were several. Crissie Blomquist had two races that were better than ever, that was her best dual meet that she has had. I think the hard training that we do really benefits her and she has been killing it in workout and it has carried over into the meet. And Kate Steward, for her first meet back after she has been working really hard with her injury, we are not all the way there yet, but it was a great way to start her collegiate career. Can’t really start it any better than she did, she is definitely a performer.”
What they are looking at for their Nebraska meet next week:
“We still have two more weeks of hard training before we rest a little for our mid-season meet. We need to finish up the power phase well and go into an environment where there will be a lot of adversity and it is going to be tough. It has been a long rivalry with Nebraska and both teams really get up for competing against each other.”
Freshman Kate Steward
How it felt getting back in after an injury:
It felt really good. One of my favorite parts about swimming is the racing, so it is fun to be able to do that again and contribute to the scores and the team.”
Walking away with three individual wins:
“It builds a lot of confidence because I really didn’t know going into this meet how it was going to turn out, so being able to swim and have solid times for right now, I’m really happy.”
Goals moving forward:
“We have a lot of team goals, like getting a bunch of people to NCAAs and I hope that I will be able tot be a part of that. We always chase conference, so getting as close to Texas as we can. Those are my top goals and that would include top-eight at Big 12’s, maybe even top-three.”
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks hit the road for their first away meet of the season Saturday, Nov. 3, as they travel to Lincoln, Nebraska to face the Cornhuskers in dual action at 2 p.m.
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