Jayhawks On Top For Day One of Kansas Classic
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TOPRKA, Kan. – Sophomore Chelsie Miller placed first in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:04.37, helping Kansas to a meet-leading 297 points after day one of the Kansas Classic, Friday evening in the Capitol Federal Natatorium.
The Houston, Texas native also scored points for the Jayhawks in the 500-yard freestyle when she placed third with a time of 4:56.77. Another first-place finisher for Kansas was senior Morgan Sharp, who had the fastest time in the 500 free (4:53.27) and set a new Kansas Classic meet record.
“We are proud of Morgan because she swam a couple seconds faster than what she swam at this meet last year,” head coach Clark Campbell said. “We were also really impressed with Chelsie. She swam the 500 free and then 10 minutes later had to swim the 200 IM, in which she was the top finisher. Chelsie is a very tough competitor and we are using this meet to get her ready for USA Nationals, so I am pleased with how she swam today.”
Campbell said being in first place provides momentum heading into the rest of the meet and it is something that is important to competing well. Of the 26 swims the Jayhawks swam during prelims, 22 in-season best times were recorded.
“Today was a good start to the weekend,” Campbell said. “We are happy with how our morning went because that’s what we wanted. Swimming so well during prelims gave the girls some momentum into the finals this evening and we kept it going all the way through the end of the night.”
Campbell expects his team to use the momentum established today to propel into the rest of the weekend. With three days of competition, there is always room to make improvements.
“The great thing about championship-style meets is that we always have another chance to get better,” Campbell said. “The ones that didn’t perform well have another chance tomorrow. We want those who did perform well to step up and keep the momentum going. We have a tendency to get better as championship meets progress. So we will see if that happens. It was a good start.”
Kansas leads the pool with 297 points heading into day two and is followed by Iowa State (240) Nebraska (221), Air Force (155), Nebraska-Omaha (61) and Northern Iowa (60).
“With the four bigger schools, it is going to be close,” Campbell said. “It seemed like all of the schools had certain swims they did well in and can take that away and use as momentum for tomorrow. It’s going to be interesting to see how things turn out and it’s going to be very competitive.”
The Jayhawks will be back in the pool tomorrow morning for day two of the Kansas Classic, with preliminary rounds beginning at 10 a.m., and finals starting at 6 p.m. The order of events is as follows:
Preliminaries (10 a.m.)
400-yard IM
100-yard butterfly
200-yard freestyle
100-yard breaststroke
100-yard backstroke
Finals (6 p.m.)
200-yard medley relay
400-yard IM
100-yard butterfly
200-yard freestyle
100-yard breaststroke
100-yard backstroke
15 minute break
800-yard freestyle relay
