College Station, Texas - Both 200-yard medley and 800-yard freestyle relay teams swam the best times in head coach Pablo Morales' four-year tenure, as the Nebraska swimming and diving team opened up the 2005 Big 12 Championships on Wednesday night at the Student Rec Center Natatorium in College Station, Texas.
The 800-yard freestyle relay team of four sophomores in Kate Wheeler, Katie Bowden, Michelle Criss and Lauren Bailey shattered their season-best with a time of 7:25.07. The time earned them fourth-place, two places higher than last year's showing in the event at the Big 12 Championships. The previous season best was 7:33.47, set at the Texas Invitational in December.
In the 200-yard medley relay, the team of sophomore Bailey Ingles, junior Rachel Schlatter, and freshmen Betsy Grover and Lynn Siemert completed the race in a time of 1:43.92, just 16 one-hundreths of a second behind Missouri to earn Nebraska a fifth-place finish. The performance is also one place better than last year when Nebraska finished sixth in the event. The four swimmers were competing together in the event for the first time this season, and were just more than a second and a half off of cracking NU's all-time top five list. The University of Texas took first place in a time of 1:38.73.
"It was an awesome relay," said junior co-captain Rachel Schlatter, who swam the breaststroke portion of the relay. "Everyone was pumped up right away and it is a great way to start the meet."
Nebraska sits in fourth place in the team standings following day one. The Huskers have collected 58 points and are just six points behind Kansas for third place.
The meet continues on Thursday morning with preliminary heats beginning at 10 a.m. and final heats beginning at 6 p.m.
Coach Morales Quotes<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
On the first two events:
We were going into the meet expecting at least a fourth-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle and fifth-place in the 200-yard medley relay. We also thought we could maybe sneak out a fourth place in the 200-medley and we almost did.
On day one:
The 800-yard freestyle was eight seconds fast than last year and eight seconds faster than our season best. Overall, there is a room for improvement but there have been great signs so far. We are just six points out of third place in the team standings which is great.
Team Standings After Day One:
1. Texas-80
2. <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Texas A&M-68
3. Kansas-64
4. Nebraska-58
5. Missouri-56
6. Iowa State-54