Huskers Head to Big 12 Championships

Lincoln --The Nebraska swimming and diving team begins to wind down its season this week when the Huskers travel to Austin, Texas to compete in the Big 12 Championships meet.

Competition begins on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. and continues through the finals on Saturday, Feb. 28.

The Huskers will face stiff competition at the Big 12 Championships as three of the teams are rated, including No. 6 Texas, No. 14 Texas A&M and No. 22 Missouri.

The meet marks the second time the Huskers have faced Texas, Iowa State and Missouri in competition and the third time the Huskers have competed against the Kansas Jayhawks.

NU hopes to see season-best performances at the meet with several Huskers looking to see NCAA qualifying times.

Iowa State recap:
NU defeated Iowa State at the Bob Devaney Sports Center pool on Feb. 7 by a score of 171.5-126.5 in its final dual of the season.

The Huskers won nine of the 16 events and were led by freshmen Kate Wheeler and Lauren Bailey, who each took home a pair of wins. Wheeler won the 1,650-yard free in a time of 17:01.20 before another first-place finish in the 500-yard free (5:02.98). Bailey also had strong swims, finishing first in both the 200-yard free (1:51.09) and the 200-yard back (2:05.99). In the diving well, sophomore Amie Buoy won the three-meter contest with a score of 471.88.

Other first-place finishes for the Huskers included freshmen Bailey Ingles (200-yard fly, 2:06.22) and Mallory Keathley (100-yard fly, 57.84) and senior Angie Matheu (100-yard breast, 1:05.28)

Senior Shows Leadership for Huskers
As the Huskers’ only senior this year, Angie Matheu took on an important role as a leader for the team. Matheu has helped the Huskers to a 7-2 dual record by putting solid points on the board. Matheu had a first-place finish early in the season in the 100-yard breaststroke when she touched the wall in a time of 1:06.17 against Southwest Missouri State on Nov. 8.

Matheu also had another strong performance when she earned a first-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:25.77) on Jan. 24, helping lead the Huskers to a 198-93 victory over the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks.

In the final meet of the dual season, Matheu helped the Huskers to a 171.5-126.5 victory over Iowa State with a first-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke when she touched the wall in a time of 1:05.28.

NU Improves Record
The Nebraska swimming and diving team has shown a tremendous improvement in performances this season. A team of mostly freshmen and sophomores, the Huskers have pulled out their first winning season since going 7-4 in 2001. NU finished with an impressive dual record of 7-2.

The Huskers also have placed high in invitational meets this season, finishing fifth in the Big 12 Relays, fourth at the Minnesota Invitational and a second at the Country Inn and Suites Invitational hosted by the University of California at Irvine.

NU Notes:

Freshman Lauren Bailey finished the 1,650 free in a time of 16:45.04 in the Huskers’ meet against Nebraska-Omaha, a season best and NCAA provisional qualifying time.

The Huskers finished in sixth place at the Big 12 Championships last season.

Nebraska jumped to a 7-2 dual record this year giving it its first winning season since 2001 (7-4), just the second winning season since 1999.

NU’s 7-2 dual record for this season is more wins than the last two years combined.