Honors
Three Letters (2021, 2022, 2023)
CSCAA Scholar All-American (2nd, 2023)
Academic All-Big Ten (2024)
Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll (Fall 2022, 2023; Spring 2021, 2022, 2023)
Tom Osborne Citizenship Team (2021, 2022, 2023)
Four-Time NCISAA State Champion (200 IM, 2019, 2020; 100 Back, 2019; 500 Free, 2020)
Three-Time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American (2018, 2019, 2020)
2023-24 (Senior)
Sarah Barton logged career-bests in three events this season and added nine first-place finishes and 24 top-three finishes. At the mid-season Hawkeye Invitational, Barton took first in the 200 backstroke. She qualified for finals with a prelim time of 1:58.19 and went on to swim a career-best 1:57.28 in the finals. Barton also picked up a runner-up finish in the the 200 IM (2:02.07), a third-place finish in the 200 butterfly (2:00.98) and a fourth-place finish in the 400 IM (4:17.40).
At the Big Ten Championships, Barton swam a career-best 17th-place finish in the 200 butterfly with an NCAA B Standard time of 1:58.41. She appeared in the finals of the 200 IM and finished 21st (2:00.23). Barton teamed up with JoJo Randby, Beatrix Tanko and Anna Vlachou in the 400 medley relay to swim the third-fastest time in school history (3:37.60). Barton tallied five first-place finishes in the month of October, including three in a dual with Iowa State (Oct. 14).
2022-23 (Junior)
Barton continued to produce career-best times and top finishes for NU during her junior season. The junior from Huntersville, N.C. tallied three top-five finishes at the mid-season Hawkeye Invite, including a runner-up effort in the 200 IM with a career-best 1:59.68. Barton added a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 200 backstroke (2:00.05) and the 400 IM (4:19.16), after clocking a career-best 4:18.38 in the 400 IM prelims. At the Kansas dual, Barton swam her first 400 IM of the season and won the event in 4:29.48.
Barton was a three-time finalist at the 2023 Big Ten Championships, achieving her top finish in the 400 IM with an NCAA B Standard Cut time of 4:15.60 to place 13th. In the 200 butterfly, Barton posted a career-best 1:59.46 to finish 18th. She added a top-24 finish in the 200 IM, touching the wall at 2:00.82. Barton capped off her season in Elkhart, Ind. at the 2023 CSCAA National Invitational Championships. In the 400 IM, she swam the top time in the prelims (4:17.46) and went on to finish sixth in the finals with a time of 4:18.34. In the 200 IM, Barton pitched in an eighth-place swim (2:02.30), while placing 11th in the 200 butterfly (2:00.63).
2021-22 (Sophomore)
Barton took big strides during her sophomore season to become one of the team’s top competitors in the individual-medley and backstroke events. At the first dual of the season (Oct. 2), Barton placed second in the 500 freestyle.
In the dual against Iowa, she swam to a fourth-place finish in the 200 breaststroke. As October closed, Barton had five top-five finishes in one weekend in duals against Minnesota and Iowa State. This included a runner-up finish in the 200 IM and fourth-place swim in the 200 backstroke against Minnesota. The next day, Barton added a runner-up finish in the 200 butterfly, a second-place swim in the 200 backstroke and a fifth-place finish in the 200 IM.
In a battle with the Jayhawks (Nov. 5), Barton swam her career-best 200 fly for a runner-up finish, in addition to finishing fourth in the 200 backstroke. Barton’s times continued to drop significantly, as she swam four career-bests at the Mizzou Invitational (Nov. 17-19), including a runner-up finish in the 400 IM prelims (4:23.00) which led to finishing fourth in the finals. She added an additional top-five finish in the 200 backstroke (1:59.40) and a top-25 finish in the 500 freestyle (4:59.81).
Barton finished the dual season strong with a pair of runner-up finishes in the 200 back and a career-best time in the 200 IM (2:03.84) against Rutgers to nab second-place. She also earned two top-three finishes in the 400 IM in the last two duals. At the Big Ten Championships, Barton notched career-best times in all three individual events that she swam in. The sophomore qualified for C-finals in the 200 backstroke (23rd, 1:59:46) and 400 IM (20th, 4:20.09).
2020-21 (Freshman)
Barton produced solid results in an abbreviated 2021 regular season before competing in three events for the Huskers at the 2021 Big Ten Swimming Championships in Minneapolis. Barton finished 43rd in the 200 backstroke in a collegiate-best time of 2:02.74 in the Big Ten prelims. She added a 44th-place finish in the 100 back (57.01) at the Big Ten meet, along with taking 51st in a time of 2:05.04 in the 200 IM at the conference championships. Her regular season was highlighted by a third-place finish in the 200 back (2:07.49) in a dual with Illinois (Jan. 23). Barton posted a top 400 IM time of 4:32.18 in a tri-meet with Minnesota and Iowa (Feb. 6).
Before Nebraska
Barton attended Southlake Christian Academy in North Carolina and was a four-time NCISAA Division II individual state champion. She captured her second straight 200 IM title while shattering the state record with a time of 2:03.62 in February 2020. A month later, she improved her time in the 200 IM to 2:03.05 at the Southern Premier. She added a 2020 NCISAA title in the 500 freestyle (5:00.45), after winning the 100 backstroke title in a career-best and state-record time of 56.57 in 2019. A three-time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, Barton competed at the 2019 Speedo Junior Nationals and also qualified for Winter Nationals in the backstroke and butterfly events.
Personal
The daughter of David and Cheri Barton, Sarah was born June 22, 2002. A hospitality, restaurant and tourism management major, Sarah is a four-time member of the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll. She was also named to the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team on three occasions for her contributions to the Lincoln community.
Career-Best Times
| Event | Time | Meet (Date) |
| 100 Back | 53.41 | Big Ten Championships (2024) |
| 200 Back | 1:57.28 | Hawkeye Invite (2023) |
| 200 Free | 2:00.39 | Illinois (2021) |
| 500 Free | 4:59.81 | Mizzou Invite (2021) |
| 100 Fly | 58.87 | Minnesota & South Dakota (2022) |
| 200 Fly | 1:58.41 | Big Ten Championships (2024) |
| 100 Breast | 1:12.64 | SDSU (2021) |
| 200 Breast | 2:33.72 | Omaha (2022) |
| 200 IM | 1:59.68 | Hawkeye Invite (2022) |
| 400 IM | 4:15.60 | Big Ten Championships (2023) |