Friday, March 13, 2009
After 17 meets, it all comes down to this: the NCAA Championships. The goal for the swimmers who qualified: beat their incoming seed times. The payoff for six months of swimming and training: a shot to break another record.
Kansas has two swimmers, senior Maria Mayrovich and sophomore Iuliia Kuzr, who will make their NCAA Championship debuts in College Station, Texas, next week. Mayrovich qualified in the 50-yard, 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle and Kuzhil qualified in the 100-yard backstroke.
Maria Mayrovich: 50-yard Freestyle Thursday, March 19 200-yard Freestyle Friday, March 20 100-yard Freestyle Saturday, March 21 Iuliia Kuzhil: 100-yard Backstroke Friday, March 20
Mayrovich helped set the school records in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays, and the 200- and 400-yard medley relays at the Big 12 Conference Championship meet. Mayrovich also had seven season-best times at the meet.
“I’ve had a really good season and I can’t complain about the way things have turned out,” Mayrovich said. “I made all of my goals and times that the coaches and I laid out for me for the season.”
Mayrovich said she had come close the last two years and she finally made it to the NCAA Championships this season.
“I told myself I have to make it no matter what,” Mayrovich said. “I’ve been training and planning to make it to this meet all season.”
Kuzhil, who has only been in the country and at Kansas for six months, broke the school record in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke at the Big 12 Championships.
“All of [the season] went by so fast,” Kuzhil said. “This has been so exciting and I’m glad that I was able to come to school here and be a part of this team and this atmosphere.”
ZONE DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Before the Kansas divers, sophomore Erin Mertz, junior Meghan Proehl and senior Hannah McMacken, can even think about the NCAA Championships, they will be tested again this week at the Zone Diving Championships, a regional competition needed to qualify for the NCAA Championship tournaments. The three divers qualified for the zone meet at the first meet of the season.
Proehl made it to the finals in the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions at the Big 12 meet. Proehl said that the Big 12 meet was the most important meet of the season for her but she is looking forward to another competition.
“Conference is great because I’m competing for the whole team,” Proehl said. “Zone is like icing on the cake for me. If I do well, great; If not, it’s okay.”
McMacken said that this has been her best season by far and that this meet should be solid competition for the team. Although this could be her last meet ever, McMacken said that she couldn’t be happier with the way things have gone this season.
“It’s kind of weird to think that this could be it,” McMacken said.
The divers will head back to Columbia, Mo., to compete in the Zone D Diving Championships today through Sunday. If they qualify, they will go to the NCAA Championships next weekend.
— —Edited by Sam Speer
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