Session 7: Huskers Finish Sixth at Big 12 Championships

College Station, Texas - Kaitlin Arntz's fourth-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke highlighted the seventh and final session of the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships in College Station, Texas, on Saturday evening. Mariah Hutchinson also put in a season-best time in the 200-yard butterfly to finish fifth in the event.

The Huskers finished sixth in their final meet of the season, earning 261 total team points. Texas A&M took the title with 1,002 points, winning their third Big 12 Championships in the last four years.

Arntz's 200-yard breaststroke time of 2:12.01 was nearly a second faster than her morning prelim time and moved her up to third on the all-time NU list, behind Olympians Penny Heyns and Julia Russell. It capped an incredible week for Arntz, who had three top-six finishes and put herself in the top four on Nebraska's all-time board in three different events (100- and 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard IM).

Arntz had an NCAA B-cut provisional time in the 100 Breast, 200 Breast and 200 IM, and the times, especially in the 100-yard breaststroke where she swam a 1:00.99, have a good chance of holding up to earn herself a spot at the NCAA Championships on March 18-20 in West Lafayette, Ind.

The 200-yard backstroke was the first swimming event of the day, and Ellan Dufour improved upon the career-best time she posted earlier in the day, swimming a 2:00.12 to finish sixth in the "B" Finals, giving NU its first points of the day.

Kelsey Larson and Courtney Rhodenbaugh swam in the "B" Finals of the 200-yard breaststroke, and each swam career-bests en route to second and sixth place finishes, respectively. Larson swam a time of 2:16.35 and Rhodenbaugh came in at 2:21.33. Larson's time was good enough to put her under the B-cut NCAA provisional time.

Mariah Hutchinson placed fifth in the 200-yard butterfly with a season-best time of 1:59.90, which was also an NCAA B-cut provisional time. It was Hutchinson's fourth career top-six conference finish in the event, and her fifth top-eight conference finish overall for her career. Hutchinson closed out her NU career on a hight note and leaves Nebraska as one of the top butterflyers in school history. Kelsey Grushecky finished 13th and Meredith Matthies finished 15th in the event, while Blaine Hoppenrath swam a time trial and finished with a time of 2:03.31.

Alyson Ramsey placed 10th in the platform dive to mark NU's highest finisher in the event. Ramsey scored a career-best 203.15 to earn her first top-10 finish in the meet. NU's Amy Herman came in 12th with a score of 200.45, and D'Arcy Schmidt took 16th with a score of 182.25.

The 400-yard freestyle relay closed out the meet, and the Husker relay team of Hutchinson, Arntz, Ariel Weech and Hayley Martin had a season-best time of 3:25.17 to come in sixth.

Nearly every NU swimmer had a career-best time in at least one event during the four-day Big 12 Championships. Nebraska had eight top-10 finishes overall on the meet.

Results
200 Backstroke
1. Kristen Heiss (Texas A&M) - 1:53.58
14. Ellan Dufour - 2:00.12*

1,650 Freestyle
1. Leah Gingrich (Texas) - 16:09.66
9. Brandie Kavalec - 16:52.78*
13. Mailene Leslie - 17:13.03#
15. Riley Seidel - 17:35.49*

100 Freestyle
1. Julia Wilkinson (Texas A&M) - 47.74

200 Breaststroke
1. Alia Atkinson (Texas A&M) -
4. Kaitlin Arntz - 2:12.01* (3rd all-time) (B-cut)
10. Kelsey Larson - 2:16.35* (B-cut)
14. Courtney Rhodenbaugh - 2:21.33*

200 Butterfly
1. Kathleen Hersey (Texas) - 1:53.68
5. Mariah Hutchinson - 1:59.90# (B-cut)
13. Kelsey Grushecky - 2:04.29
15. Meredith Matthies - 2:05.74
Trial: Blaine Hoppenrath - 2:03.31#

Platform Diving
1. Janie Potvin (Texas A&M) - 333.65
10. Alyson Ramsey - 203.15*
12. Amy Herman - 200.45
16. D'Arcy Schmidt - 182.25

400 Freestyle Relay
1. Texas A&M - 3:15.23
6. Nebraska - 3:25.17#
(Mariah Hutchinson, Kaitlin Arntz, Ariel Weech, Hayley Martin)

#season-best time
*career-best time

Final Standings
1. Texas A&M - 1,002
2. Texas - 903
3. Missouri - 484
4. Kansas - 416
5. Iowa State - 338
6. Nebraska - 261