Swimming yields mixed results in duals

By Christian Lucero

Monday, November 2, 2009

Swimming coach Clark Campbell likened his team’s performance this weekend to the Kansas landscape: flat. The swimming and diving team lost to Missouri 176-119 Friday at the Robinson Natatorium before coming back and beating Nebraska-Omaha 79-45 on Saturday.

“We had a good meet last week in Arkansas and we weren’t on that level this week,” Campbell said. “To their credit, they came back and took care of business against Nebraska-Omaha.”

Senior Meghan Proehl won the one-meter dive competition, accumulating an NCAA-qualifying standard score of 273.9 against Missouri. She also took second place in the three-meter dive with a score of 241.8. Proehl said she thinks she can still perform better, too.

“This weekend says nothing about the potential this team has,” Proehl said. “By the time Big 12 Championships come around is when the whole team will be peaking, and we will be much more competitive with Missouri.”

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Photo by Adam Buhler

Junior Brittany Potter competes in the 200 yard Butterfly race in the dual meet against Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday afternoon. Potter finished third in her heat with a time of 2:07.60.

Junior Iuliia Kuzhil stood out in the pool by breaking a Robinson Natatorium record in the 100-yard backstroke. Her time of 55.61 seconds bested the previous record by .26 seconds and Kuzhil met the NCAA ‘B’ qualifying standard.

The next day, the Jayhawks hosted Nebraska-Omaha in their second straight dual, earning a victory with a first-place finish from sophomore Stephanie Payne in the 200-yard butterfly. Kansas also got two first-place finishes from freshman Monica Johannessen in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events and another from senior captain Carrah Haley in the 200-yard backstroke.

“It’s still early in the season and I know both the swimmers and divers are still working on perfecting a lot of skills,” Proehl said. “Personally, I’m excited with the way the season has started out.”

Campbell said the team dealt with “not typical swimming injuries” and illness, which contributed to a lack of practice time for the entire team.

“There was a six-week period where there was at least one girl with things like bronchitis,” Campbell said. “Swimming is probably one of the most training-intensive sports because you can only improve when you’re in the water. We’re really hopeful that we have the sickness stuff behind us to start growing.”

The Jayhawks will be back in the pool Nov. 7 in Springfield, Mo., for a dual with Drury University.

— Edited by Sarah Kelly

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