JoJo Randby raced to a 100 breaststroke title while notching a solid NCAA B cut to highlight strong performances by the Nebraska swim team at the Hawkeye Invitational Friday.
Randby, a junior from Omaha, cruised to a first-place finish in Friday's 100 breast prelims in an NCAA B time standard of 1:00.63, before capping an impressive day with a season-best time of 1:00.54 in the final to capture the event crown. Randby's time is just 0.47 seconds off her school record time of 1:00.07 set last season at the Big Ten Championships.
Junior Maia Hall added an NCAA B cut of her own with a season-best time of 1:01.20 to finish runner-up in the 100 breaststroke behind Randby. Freshman Amelia Riggott added a sixth-place finish in prelims (1:03.85), while junior Sydney McCracken took eighth (1:04.08).
Freshman Beatrix Tanko contributed an NCAA B cut of her own with a season-best 53.26 to take second in the 100 butterfly. In the 100 fly prelims, Anna Vlachou took fourth (54.50), Lexi Kucera took fifth (54.64) Caitlin Cairns took sixth (54.65), and Anastasia Tichy took eighth (54.77).
Sophomore Giulia Marchi captured another second-place individual finish for the Big Red by posting a personal-best time of 1:49.06 in the 200 freestyle. Vlachou took sixth (1:50.73) and Kucera took eighth (1:50.90) in the prelims.
In the 400 IM finals, sophomore Gena Jorgenson notched an NCAA B cut (4:16.05) on her way to a third-place finish. Sarah Barton touched the wall right behind Jorgenson in fourth place with a time of 4:17.40, just one-tenth of a second shy of the NCAA B standard.
Caitlin Cairns contributed a sixth-place finish with a time of 55.70 in the the 100 backstroke.
Through two days of competition in Iowa City, the Huskers sit in second place with a team total of 510, just seven points back of the hosts from Iowa.
The Husker relay team of Jorgenson, Kucera, Marchi and Caterina Bisiacchi added big team points by winning the 800 freestyle relay (7:18.69). The Big Red added a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay, as Cairns, Randby, Tanko and Emily Haimes joined forces for a time of 1:40.48.
Action resumes tomorrow at 10 a.m. (CT) for prelims, with finals to follow at 5 p.m. (CT).
Hawkeye Invitational
Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2023
Iowa City, Iowa (Campus Recreation & Wellness Center)
Prelims: 10 a.m. (CT) each day
Finals: 5 p.m. (CT) each day
Order of Events
Saturday
1,650 Free
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
Platform Dive (Finals)
400 Free Relay (Finals)