Jayhawks Win Five Events in First Day of Double Dual

Stats Download Link Friday Results (.pdf)
 
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Impressive performances by veterans and rookies made for an exciting opening day for Kansas swimming and diving’s 2015-16 season inside Robinson Natatorium Friday evening.
 
The weekend features the Jayhawks against Missouri State and Denver in double dual fashion. At the conclusion of the first day, Kansas leads the Bears, 150-32 and trails the Pioneers, 93-91.
 
Junior Hannah Angell came up big for the Jayhawks, posting two double-dual career bests in the 100-yard backstroke and her 50-yard backstroke leg in the 200 IM relay. The Overland Park, Kansas product never succumbed under pressure, out-touching Denver’s Morgan McCormick by .08 seconds in the second heat of her 100-yard backstroke turning in a time of 56.85.
 
“Hannah’s races today were big time,” head coach Clark Campbell said. “We talked about stepping up this week and she embraced that challenge.”
 
In her collegiate debut, freshman Libby Walker chalked up the first individual victory of the evening in the 1,000-yard free after swimming a time of 10:14.09 and winning the race by nearly two seconds. Walker had another notable performance in the 200-yard butterfly (2:04.68), finishing third only behind teammate Chelsie Miller (2:01.96) and Denver’s Dora Kiss (2:04.06).
 
“It was a good race,” Walker said. “I was really excited and just wanted to go out there and win it for my team. It felt really good, I was a little nervous, but it’s one of the races that I’m really confident in and knew that I could swim well.”
 
Aside from the 200-yard fly, Miller turned in another first-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley, winning the event by less than half a second with a time of 2:05.44. The senior from Houston, Texas, was also a member of Kansas’ A relay team in the 800-yard freestyle who fell to Denver’s A relay (7:30.98) in a hard-fought battle. Miller was joined by Haley Bishop, Haley Molden and Sammie Schurig, on the team that recorded a 7:31.65 in the final event of the evening.
 
In addition, Molden showed her experience in the pool placing second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:51.06) behind Pioneer junior Johanna Roas (1:50.48).
 
In the 50-yard freestyle the Jayhawks earned three of the top-four places with Bishop (24.04) placing second, sophomore Hannah Driscoll (24.43) earning third, and freshman Breonna Barker (24.45) coming in fourth.
 
“Today was a mixed bag,” Campbell said. “We have some new bodies and we made some mistakes, but they came back and performed really well. We have to recover well and be ready to come in tomorrow so we can be in a position to be even more competitive. “
 
Graylyn Jones and Nadia Khechfe represented the Jayhawks in the diving well, placing first and second, respectively.
 
Both Denver and Missouri State brought their men’s teams who helped contribute to a dramatic finish in the first day of competition. In the final race of the evening, Denver’s relay team consisting of Dylan Bunch, Ray Bornman, Luke Williams and Kyle Robrock, swam their way into the Robinson Natatorium pool records. Swimming the 800-yard freestyle relay in 6:43.18 the squad knocked off Nebraska’s previous pool record of 6:43.41 that had been standing since 1984.
 
At the end of Friday’s competition, Denver’s women lead Missouri State, 141-41, and the Denver men lead Missouri State, 131-49. The meet continues Saturday, Oct. 24 at noon in Robinson Natatorium. Kansas will honor its four seniors in the second day of the Jayhawks for a Cure meet. Admission to the event is free.

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200 MEDLEY RELAY
1 – Denver A – 1:45.56
2 – Kansas A – 1:45.67
3 – Kansas B – 1:47.38

1,000 FREE
1 – L. Walker – 10:14.09
2 – C. Jenck – 10:16.05
3 – D. Kiss – 10:19.73

200 FREE
1 – J. Roas – 1:50.48
2 – H. Molden – 1:51.06
3 – M. Myers 1:52.44

100 BACK
1 – H. Angell – 56.85
2 – M. McCormick – 56.93
3 – P. Pavlic – 58.26

100 BREAST
1 – A. Sanders – 1:04.55
2 – B. Andison – 1:05.78
3 – B. Hinde – 1:05.95

200 FLY
1 – C. Miller – 2:01.96
2 – D. Kiss – 2:04.06
3 – L. Walker – 2:04.68

50 FREE
1 – Z. Huddleston – 23.86
2 – H. Bishop – 24.04
3 – H. Driscoll – 24.43

1M DIVING
1 – G. Jones – 261.45
2 – N. Khechfe – 240.75
3 – L. Grammer – 226.60

200 IM
1 – C. Miller – 2:05.44
2 – M. McCormick – 2:05.76
3 – M. Straight – 2:06.79

800 FREE RELAY
1 – Denver A – 7:30.98
2 – Kansas A – 7:31.65
3 – Denver B – 7:42.73