After four days of breaking school records and lifetime best results, Kansas took fourth place at the Big 12 Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. Despite all of the successes, Kansas scored 493 points, placing them behind their rival team, Missouri, which finished third with 582 points. Coach Clark Campbell was pleased with the team’s performance and said they did what they came to do.

“This was a good championship meet for us,” Campbell said. “We had 80 percent of our athletes finish with their best times ever and that’s what it’s more about for us.”

In the second half of the meet, senior Maria Mayrovich qualified for the finals in the 100-yard freestyle. Mayrovich earned her second bronze medal with a time of 48.77 seconds. Mayrovich made it to the finals in every freestyle race except the 500-yard and 800-yard relay, which she did not compete in.

“Out senior class meant a lot to the program,” Campbell said. “They’ve made a big difference to the direction of the program and they did well here.”

Kansas’ underclassmen also had a strong showing during the second half of the meet. Making her Conference Championship debut, sophomore Iuliia Kuzhil took the bronze in the 100-yard backstroke. Kuzhil’s time of 53.63 seconds broke the school record of 54.76 seconds.

“I’ve never been to such a big meet before,” Kuzhil said. “I’m really excited about my time. I didn’t know how fast I could go and I wasn’t expecting to win.”

Freshman Abigail Anderson finished sixth in the 100-yard butterfly final with a time of 54.44 seconds, beating her season best time of 56.93 at Kenyon. In the 100-yard backstroke Anderson finished eighth with a season best time of 55.35 seconds.

“We were super impressed with our underclassman performances,” Campbell said. “These girls have set the program up well for years to come. The staff is excited about all of the returners we’ll have next year.”

Kansas had two divers qualify for the finals in every event. Sophomore Erin Mertz made three consecutive appearances in the finals of this meet. Mertz took eighth in the 3-meter diving finals with a score of 274.10 and sixth in the platform diving final with a score of 222.75.

“This was really exciting because last year I didn’t make it to the finals in all of the events,” Mertz said. “We did really well and we had two divers make it to every final, which was one of our team goals.”

Diving coach Eric Elliott said the meet was a good learning experience for all of the divers. Elliott said the meet was a good high level competition for the team to get them prepared before going to the Zone Diving Championships.

“We got the important stuff done in the morning by qualifying,” Elliott said. “We could’ve done a little better in the evening but we’re going to work on being mentally prepared for the next meet.”

Kansas has qualified one athlete, Mayrovich, in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle for the NCAA Championships in College Station, Texas from March 19 to 21. Kuzhil will have to wait until Thursday to find out if she qualified for the 100-yard backstroke. The 200-yard medley relay will swim in a time trial this week to try and make the final cut for NCAA Championships.

All four divers have qualified for the Zone Diving Championships in Columbia, Mo., from March 13 to 15. From there, the divers can qualify for the NCAA Championships.

— — Edited by Realle Roth