Kansas swimmers and divers compete for championship invites

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Six months of ups and downs and hours spent training in the pool culminate this week for the Kansas swimming and diving team when it competes in the Big 12 Championships in Columbia, Mo.

Kansas’ disappointing early-February loss to Iowa State in its last competition has lingered for three weeks, but the team is now focused on its biggest meet of the season.

Photo by Chris Bronson

Junior Brittany Rospierski surges through the water during the women's 100-yard breaststroke event at Saturday's dual againt Nebraska at the Robinson Natatorium. Rospierski finished in second place with a time of 1:05.36.

“We moved forward,” said senior Stephanie Payne. “You work towards this meet the entire season. Everything we do from the day we start the season until today is preparing us for now.”

The meet is a three-and-a-half day team championship battle in Mizzou Aquatics Center against Iowa State, Missouri and national powerhouses Texas and Texas A&M.

Still, much of the attention will be on individual competition, as each swimmer aims to secure an invitation to the NCAA Championships next month.

“We’ll focus on our individual performances first and let the team stuff take care of itself,” said coach Clark Campbell. “It’s something you simply can not control.”

Throughout the past two weeks, the team started tapering — lowering volume and intensity of training — in preparation for the meet. Tapering is designed to consolidate months of training into just a couple of races.

“When you taper and peak towards the end, you just feel like a new athlete,” Campbell said. “All that training you do bubbles up and you’re able to perform at a high level.”

To catalyze that power and speed, swimmers will wear knee suits for just the second time this season. The slick, skin-tight suits compress the swimmer’s body and provide a more hydrodynamic movement in the water. The suits only come out a couple of times a year and the swimmers said they love the change in wardrobe.

“You feel like a completely different swimmer,” said junior Brittany Rospierski. “Your body position is different, much higher in the water which is what you want.”

For those who do not qualify for the NCAA Championships, this will be the final meet of the season and the last opportunity to achieve personal career-best times. Campbell said that as a team, the goal is to achieve 70 percent individual lifetime bests.

Perennial powers Texas and Texas A&M will likely battle for the top two spots in the team competition. The two schools have finished in the top two for the past 12 years.

Kansas looks to outperform Missouri and Iowa State. Missouri outscored Kansas at the Mizzou Invite in December, the last time the fast suits were worn. Still, it’s the Iowa State loss that looms in the team’s mind.

“Mostly we just want individual bests,” Payne said. “And to beat Iowa State.”

— By Ian Cummings

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