Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Olympians and high-tech speed suits aren’t what you’d expect to see at a college swim meet. But for the Big 12 Conference Championship, Kansas (11-3) will be competing against Texas and Texas A&M, who have their own Olympians, bringing the competition to a new level.
“With the introduction of the speed suits, fast times aren’t fast anymore,” coach Clark Campbell said. “But this is the level of competition we want to swim against.”
At its last meet, against Iowa State, Kansas broke the 200-yard freestyle relay record at Robinson Natatorium.
Sarah Hettenbach, Abilene freshman, holds a lap sign for Molly Brammer during the 1000-yard freestyle competition at a Jan. 24 meet.
Campbell said swimming had finally made it into the technological age.
“These may lower our times but the suits don’t swim,” Campbell said. “The girls will still have to do their stuff if they want to win.”
The championship runs today through Saturday in Columbia, Mo. Preliminary races begin at 10 a.m. each day, with finals starting at 6 p.m.
Campbell said that the team had trained all year for this meet and that every training session mattered now.
“It’s like Christmas and New Year all wrapped into one for the swimmers and divers,” Campbell said.
With senior Maria Mayrovich being the only swimmer qualified for the NCAA Championships, Kansas has one last opportunity this week to get more swimmers qualified.
The past two years Kansas has placed in the top three as a team at the conference championship. Campbell said the team was on the right track to do it again this year.
“If we come out of the meet with some lifetime best performances and make our goals, the places and ranking will take care of itself,” Campbell said.
After finishing as the top-scoring diving squad at the championship last year, Kansas is hoping to finish this season on a similarly strong note.
“This year we have the same opportunity to do the same if we stay focused,” coach Eric Elliott said.
The divers bring in big points for the overall team score, so the pressure is on, Elliott said.
The four divers, sophomore Erin Mertz, juniors Meghan Proehl and Allison Ho and senior Hannah McMacken have set high goals for their last meet.
breakbox
Big 12 Championships Event Schedule Wednesday 200-yard medley relay 800-yard freestyle relay
Thursday 500-yard freestyle 200-yard individual medley relay 50-yard freestyle 400-yard medley relay 1-meter diving
Friday 200-yard freestyle relay 200-yard individual medley 100-yard butterfly 200-yard freestyle 100-yard breaststroke 3-meter diving
Saturday 200-yard backstroke 100-yard freestyle 1650-yard freestyle 200-yard breaststroke 200-yard butterfly 400-yard freestyle relay
“They’re expecting us to score a lot for the team, but we have our own goals, too,” Elliott said.
Despite the pressure, McMacken said she was confident she and her teammates would do well at the meet.
“It’s really awesome to think about all of the competitions we’ve done,” McMacken said. “It’s going to be fun no matter what happens.”
— — Edited by Jesse Trimble
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