Rivalry renewed: Kansas won the first dual meet contested between the Jayhawks and Nebraska since the Huskers left the Big 12 Conference in 2011.
The meet was a streaky one in the early goings, with Kansas winning the first 6 events and Nebraska answering back with 5 straight wins of their own. But Kansas won 4 of the last 5 to ice the meet.
Chelsie Miller won three individual events for the Jayhawks. She ended their meet-opening run of wins by taking the 200 fly in 2:02.36, and finally put a stop to Nebraska’s mid-meet streak with a 4:57.44 win in the 500 free. Finally, she took the night’s final individual event, going 2:05.23 in the 200 IM and leading a 1-2-3 of Jayhawks.
Nebraska, which now swims in the Big Ten, got a pair of sprint free wins out of Taryn Collura. The speedster went 23.48 to win the 50 free and hand the Huskers their first win of the day. One Anna Filipcic diving win later, Collura was back in the pool to win the 100 free in 51.19, beating 200 free champ Haley Molden (51.88).
Molden was 1:51.57 early in the meet, running away with that 200.
The teams were very evenly matched in the non-free strokes. Kansas swept the butterfly races, Nebraska swept breaststroke, and the teams split on butterfly.
Miller’s 200 fly win combined with Haley Bishop‘s 56.19 100 fly win for the Jayhawks, and Yulduz Kuchkarova won the 100 back in 56.00.
But Nebraska’s Erin Oeltjen won the 200 back in 2:02.26, and Lydia Pocisk (1:05.95 in the 10 breast) and Jordan Ehly (2:21.24 in the 200 breast) combined to sweep the breaststrokes.
Filipcic won both diving events for Nebraska to round out their win total. Kansas also got a 10:13.51 win in the 1000 free from Libby Walker and topped both relays.
The Jayhawks ultimately triumped at home, 180.5-119.5.
