The women’s swimming and diving team returned to Kansas a little discouraged after competing in the Big 12 Championship Conference swim meet last week.

Although the team had some great performances and outstanding times, they placed fourth out of six teams, finishing behind Nebraska, Texas A&M; and Texas.

Kansas coach Clark Campbell said he was OK with the team’s performance, but he expressed disappointment in falling short of third-place Nebraska by only seven points.

“I think we were all a little bummed out,” Campbell said. “We came up short. We really missed out on a few team goals.”

The Jayhawks were in third place on the first day of the meet after the 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay. They trailed the second-place Texas A&M; Aggies by only four points.

“Our team goal was to get third,” junior Gina Gnatzig said.

When the second day rolled around, Kansas finished with a drop to fourth place despite solid performances by senior Amy Gruber and Gnatzig. Gruber placed second in the 50-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 22.92. Gnatzig swam the 500 freestyle and also set a Kansas season-best time at 4:51.31.

On Friday, the third day of the meet, Kansas buckled down and jumped ahead of Nebraska by 34 points. The performances that boosted the Jayhawks included Gruber’s 100-yard butterfly swim. Gruber swam a time of 53.59, also considered an NCAA “A” standard time. Campbell explained that all “A” standard time qualifiers would be invited to the NCAA Championship meet March 17-19 in West Lafayette, Ind.

Gnatzig had another good day as she finished sixth overall in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.11. Freshman Terri Schramka also swam the 200 free and finished ninth by winning the consolation heat of the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:49.66.

“We had some outstanding swims. Allie Rubino, Lindsey Urbatchka, Lauren Bonfe, Amy Gruber, Miranda Isaac, Terri Schramka,” Campbell said, “and the list goes on.”

So if everyone was swimming great and pulling out season-best times, what went wrong?

Campbell thinks that the final day of the meet is what did it.

Nebraska, the battling contender with Kansas for the No. 3 position for three days, came out strong on Saturday night, when Kansas needed to be at its toughest in order to defend the lead over Nebraska that it had established on Friday.

“Nebraska came out fired up on Saturday,” Campbell said. “I would give us a B. We had some pretty good things going on. I was OK with it.”

But what Campbell and the Jayhawks aren’t okay with is the seven-point deciding factor between third place Nebraska, and fourth place Kansas that is still lingering in their heads today.

“Seven points in a championship meet is like a buzzer beater in basketball,” Campbell said, “it’s so close.”

Despite the disheartening finish, the Jayhawks are satisfied with their teammates. The team had 15 NCAA qualifications, Campbell said. Some were NCAA “B” Standard, and some were NCAA “A” standard.

“The NCAA meet is getting real, real fast,” Campbell said.

He said that those who qualified with NCAA “B” standard times should be recognized even though they probably wouldn’t get an invitation to participate in the NCAA Championships. Swimmers like Gnatzig, sophomore Jenny Short, freshman Terri Schramka, senior co-captain Miranda Isaac and sophomore Hannah Bakke were among swimmers who qualified with NCAA “B” standard times.

Gnatzig said she was proud of the team for hanging in and swimming well over the weekend. She didn’t look at the fourth-place finish negatively, but complimented the Cornhuskers on their swimming,