Huskers Narrowly Fall to No. 23 Missouri

Columbia, Mo. -- Despite numerous strong performances and season-best swims, the University of Nebraska swimming team fell to No. 23 Missouri, 162-138, in a Big 12 Conference dual Friday night in Columbia, Mo. The loss drops the Huskers to 2-1 on the dual season.

Head Coach Pablo Morales remained upbeat despite the setback.

"We needed to do some things tonight to pull of the upset," Morales said. "We were able to get some of it done, and we saw some big drops in our distance swims tonight, so that’s great. I thought that we swam good and responded well to Missouri. We finished up strong at the end of the meet, and that’s been one of our goals. I also thought that we battled well and showed great team support and spirit from start to finish."

The Huskers struggled in the first event of the evening, the 200-yard medley relay, placing third (1:48.23) before dominating the top three slots in the 1,000-yard freestyle, with freshman Kate Wheeler, who won two events on the night, taking the win with a season-best time of 10:11.09. Fellow freshman Casey Schnack (10:20.29) placed second and sophomore Mackenzie Clark took third (10:22.85), finishing more than 10 seconds better than Missouri freshman Kim Gainey (10:33.57) who finished fourth.

NU also finished 1-2-3 in the 500-yard freestyle, with Wheeler again picking up the win in 5:01.91, a season-best mark. Clark took second (5:03.53) while sophomore Esmie Holderman touched the wall in 5:03.97 to finish third, both in season-best times.

Freshman Lauren Bailey continued a torrid freshman season and won her fourth individual title of the season, touching the wall in 4:28.80 in the 400-yard individual medley, the top time recorded in the Big 12 this season. Schnack, who now ranks third in the conference in the 400-yard IM, placed just behind Bailey in second, touching the wall in 4:34.18.

In addition, freshman Julie McCauley took home first in the 200-yard freestyle after touching the wall in 1:53.21.

Nebraska also got solid points from the diving well, as sophomore Amie Buoy took first on the three-meter springboard with 265.13 points and placed second on the one-meter board (239.40).

The Huskers finished the meet strong, taking first and third in the final event of the night, the 800-yard freestyle relay. McCauley, Wheeler, sophomore Alex King and Bailey led NU to a win, touching the wall in 7:43.46, a conference-best mark. NU’s third-place relay touched the wall in 7:49.08.

Despite the loss, the Huskers will face another tough challenge Saturday afternoon, as Nebraska will take on Truman State, which won the NCAA D-II national championship last season.

"We need to come back tomorrow against Truman State and respond," Morales said. "The meet will be a great challenge and we expect to compete well."

The Huskers and the Bulldogs will meet at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Pershing Natatorium in Kirksville, Mo.