Huskers Finish Third at Minnesota Invite

Minneapolis, Minn. - The Nebraska swimming and diving team wrapped up a successful weekend of competition with a third-place finish at the Minnesota Invitational on Sunday.

The Huskers finished with 714 points, trailing only Minnesota and Wisconsin in the three-day event.

Sophomore Bailey Ingles led the Huskers on the final day of competition by winning the 200-yard butterfly.  Ingles swam a time of 2:06.02 to edge Andrea Hemphill of Iowa and Husker teammates Betsy Grover and Diana Torres.  Grover finished third in 2:06.18 while Torres, who won the preliminary event, finished fourth in 2:06.45.

The Huskers produced another strong day in the distance events, as four NU swimmers placed in the top eight of the 1,650-yard freestyle.  Lauren Bailey led the Huskers with a second-place finish (16:43.79), while Kate Wheeler took third (16:46.97).  Casey Schnack finished fifth (16:52.73), while co-captain Mackenzie Clark finished eighth (17:40.70) to round out an impressive showing for Nebraska.  Schnack also placed fourth in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:08.66.

In platform diving, Becky Johnson led a trio of NU divers who placed in the top 10.  Johnson was fourth with a score of 325.65, while Amie Buoy was seventh (313.05) and Danielle Stansbury finished ninth (280.85).  Freshman Kaci Ressler also placed in the event, scoring a 271.95 for 12th place.   

In the lone relay event of the day, the team of Torres, Bailey, Michelle Criss and Lynn Siemert earned a fifth-place finish in the 400-yard free relay (3:33.15).

Nebraska's third-place team finish was a one spot improvement from last year's fourth-place finish at 2003 Minnesota Invitational.

After taking a week off from competition, the Huskers head to the prestigious Texas Invitational Dec. 2-4.