Jayhawks Open Regular Season At Air Force
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas swimming and diving team will begin regular season competition in Colorado Springs, Colo., when they take on Air Force on Saturday Oct. 12, at 1 p.m.
The Jayhawks return 15 members from last year’s team and will be led by senior captains Alison Lusk, Alison Moffit and Morgan Sharp. A talented group of freshmen, including Yulduz “Yulya” Kuchkarova, a 2012 Olympian and World Championship participant and Lea Wissocq, silver medalist in the 2013 French Junior Nationals, will round out the Kansas roster.
“I’m really expecting the seniors to go out and compete really well this weekend,” Kansas head coach Clark Campbell said. “They have been through this several times, and know what to expect. With that being said, every class needs to step up. Dual meets are centered on winning races. We want our athletes to get their hands to the wall first.”
Air Force brings in 12 freshmen this year, including Kaitlyn Kent who broke six school records during high school and was an all-country athlete from 2010-13. The Falcons also have a heavy upperclassmen roster with 23 returning members to this year’s team. Senior Sam Laughlin, who set school records in the 100 and 200 backstroke last season, will be a tough competitor against the Jayhawks.
“It’s still early in the season to tell where everyone is at, but I know that Air Force has a good recruiting class coming in this year to compete for them,” Campbell said. “Things were up in the air on whether we would get permission to compete with the government shut down. So the coaching staff and I are just excited we get to go this weekend.”
Campbell hopes that with this being the first official meet of the season, his team will compete hard and enjoy the first road trip.
“There are a lot of unknowns on both sides,” Campbell said. “We both have had our intrasquad meets, but this is our and Air Force’s first real meet of the season competing against another school in an official meet. Intrasquad results are hard to base anything off of too because we swam untraditional events. We need to compete well and set a good tone for the rest of the season.”
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
###
