Jayhawks To Host Final Home Meet of 2013-14 Season
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas swimming and diving team will host its final home meet of the 2013-14 season Saturday, at 10 a.m., when they host Arkansas Little-Rock in Robinson Natatorium.
The Jayhawks are coming off an eight-day trip to Puerto Rico for their annual training camp. This will be the first time in the competitive pool since the dual meet against William Jewell. They welcome former Kansas swimmer Amy Burgess back as the head coach of the Trojans.
“Amy Burgess, who was one of our most decorated swimmers, and her crew will definitely give us some competition,” head coach Clark Campbell said. “The meet will be starting at 10 a.m., which models championship-style meets. It gets us used to racing at the time of preliminaries. Another thing that will be different is now, as a coaching staff, we are letting preparation to perform fall on the girls, themselves. Championship meets are so big, that they have to be able to take care of things on their own.”
Now in the final stretch of the regular season, the Jayhawks are no longer focusing on winning meets, but rather preparing themselves for the postseason. Unless individuals qualify for NCAA Nationals, the Big 12 Championships is the culmination of the swimming season for Kansas. These final weeks of the season are spent working to prepare for the conference championships.
“We aren’t concerning ourselves with winning or losing,” Campbell said. “What we want to do is perform to our standard of excellence. We want to be confident. We want to communicate and we want to become good teammates. The next three meets will be about performing to our standards and if we do that, good things will come from it.”
According to Campbell, his team is excited to be back in its own natatorium as the last home meet was Dec. 7 against William Jewell. After a three-week training camp during winter break, the athletes are anxious to show off their hard work against competition. The Jayahwks are strong in their own pool going 3-0 in home dual meets this season.
“It’s our final home meet of the season and with school being back in session, their friends will be able to come support them,” Campbell said. “Our kids enjoy racing at home because they don’t have to worry about traveling or missing school. They’re excited to bring a lot of energy to the pool on Saturday.”
On the Jayhawks radar will be freshman mid-distance and individual medley racer, Jinson Kang. During her winter break, she broke two school records; the 200- and 400-yard individual medley, with times of 2:09.95 and 4:33.56, respectively. Kang will be up against sophomore Chelsie Miller, who is strong in the individual medley events.
“Chelsie will have some competition, which is good,” Campbell said. “She responds well to that type of challenge. I’m looking forward to Kang challenging Chelsie a little bit. Alison Moffit will also be swimming the IM event. It will be the last time they will swim the 400 IM event before the conference championship. It’s nice that their best swimmer will be going up against Chelsie.”
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