Huskers Head to Columbia for Big 12 Relays

Big 12 Relays
Friday, Oct. 16
All Day  |  Columbia, Mo.

Huskers Head to Columbia for Big 12 Relays
The Nebraska swimming and diving team heads to Columbia, Mo., this weekend for its first competition against conference teams at the Big 12 Relays. The Huskers opened their season last weekend, losing in a dual to Illinois.

Texas is the defending champion at the Big 12 Relays, after scoring 102 points to defeat second-place Texas A&M's 98 points at last year's competition in Lawrence, Kan. Nebraska finished sixth last year with a score of 28 points.

NU's sprint freestyle relays fared well last year, with both the 4x25-yard freestyle and 4x50-yard freestyle relay teams finishing in fourth place. The Huskers had 17 top-six finishes overall in last year's meet.

The Huskers return home next weekend on Oct. 24 with a dual against in-state foe Nebraska-Omaha at the Devaney Natatorium.

Pool Points
+  Two Nebraska freshmen got off to fast starts to their Husker careers. Ellan Dufour had a pair of wins in the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes and Kelsey Larson had a win in the 200-yard breaststroke, as well as a second-place finish in the 200-yard IM and a third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. The two freshmen accounted for three of Nebraska's five event wins last Saturday.

+ Junior Brandie Kavalec picked up from where she left off last season, earning three top-five finishes against Illinois. Kavalec had a team-high-tying 18 top-five finishes last season, including 12 places in the top three. Mariah Hutchinson also had three top-five finishes at the meet.

+ Nebraska's freshmen divers had an impressive showing in their first-ever collegiate meet. Amy Herman and Kaitlan Walker each had a second- and third-place finish in Saturday's meet against Illinois.

Review: Illinois Edges Nebraska
A strong finish propelled the Illinois swimming and diving team past Nebraska on Oct. 10 at the Devaney Natatorium. The Fighting Illini won the final five events of the meet to secure the victory and win the meet 165-135.

The Huskers started out strong, winning three of the first four events, including Brandie Kavalec's victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle, Julie Giehl in the 200-yard freestyle and Ellan Dufour in the 100-yard backstroke. Illinois would win the next five events, with the Huskers coming in second in each.

Dufour earned her second win of the day in the 200-yard backstroke, giving her two wins in the first two races of her career at Nebraska. Following Dufour's second victory, fellow freshman Kelsey Larson won the 200-yard breaststroke, with teammate Kaitlin Arntz following right behind her in second. Illinois won the 500-yard freestyle after that, and going into the second diving break, after 12 events, the score was tied 113-113.

That led to the Illini's strong finish, led by senior Jen Ivarson, who placed first in two of those final five events, the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard IM.

Illinois' Lauren Wismer swept the diving events, winning both the one and three meter dives. Nebraska freshman Amy Herman took second in the one meter and third in the three meter, while freshman Kaitlan Walker took second in the three meter and third in the one meter.

Illinois sealed the victory by finishing 1-2 in the final event of the meet, the 200-yard freestyle relay, and won 11 of the 16 events overall on the day.