New Kansas Diver Xu Upsets Defending NCAA Champ Schultz at Dual Meet

Arkansas vs Kansas

• Saturday, February 2nd
• Fayetteville, AK
• Short Course Yards
• Results

TEAM SCORES

1. Arkansas – 172
2. Kansas – 128

Arkansas thumped Kansas on Saturday, February 2nd, winning 11 of 16 events. In a surprising turn of events, the defending NCAA 3m champion, Brooke Schultz (Arknasas), fell to Vicky Xu, a Kansas diver who appears to have just started competing this semester. Xu, a Chinese native, is listed as a Senior on Kansas’ roster. She posted a final score of 398.63 to edge the defending champion Schultz, who score 398.25. Schultz had beaten Xu convincingly in the 1 meter earlier in the meet, 353.55 to 310.73.

Peyton Palsha was a dominant force in the women’s distance events. Palsha blasted a 9:53.82 to win the 1000 free, taking the event by a whopping 16 seconds. That time also marks her fastest 1000 this season, and is just .28 seconds off her lifetime best. Interestingly, Palsha was way faster in the first half of her 1000 than she was in the 500 itself. Palsha won the 500 free later in the meet with a 4:55.07, however, her first 500 in the 1000 was a 4:50.62, and that was with a turn at the end.

Freshman Vanessa Herrmann was instrumental in the Razorbacks’ win, taking 3 individual events. Herrmann swept the breaststroke events, swimming a lifetime best 1:02.16 to take the 100 breast. In the 200, Herrmann posted a 2:16.16 to outpace the field by 2 seconds. She then went on to win the 200 IM, swimming a 2:04.49, posting a speedy 34.62 breast split in the process.

Anna Hopkin unsurprisingly took the 50 and 100 free in decisive fashion. She posted a 22.60 to win the 50, which was actually on the slower side for her this season, but was still good enough to win by over a second. She then swam one of her slowest 100s this season, coming in at 49.56 to get the win by about 2 seconds. She also threw down a 21.61 anchoring the 200 medley relay, and came in 2nd in the 200 free with a 1:48.82. Kansas’ Jenny Nusbaum won the 200 with a 1:48.57.

PRESS RELEASE – ARKANSAS:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.- The Arkansas swimming and diving team defeated Kansas 172-128 Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale, honoring its 10 seniors prior to the meet. With the victory, the Razorbacks extended their winning streak against the Jayhawks to 10.

The Hogs won 11 events and earned 24 podium finishes, sweeping the podium in the 100 yard freestyle. Freshman Vanessa Herrmann led the team with three individual first-place finishes, while Peyton Palsha, Marlena Pigliacampi, and Anna Hopkin each recorded two.

Palsha set a season-best time in the 1000 yard freestyle (9:53.82), just 0.28 seconds away from setting a lifetime best. Herrmann set a lifetime best in the 100 yard breaststroke (1:02.16), breaking the time she set in November.

The Hogs will return to the pool Feb. 23 in Athens, Ga. for the SEC Championships.

For more information on Arkansas Swimming and Diving, follow @RazorbackSD on Twitter.

PRESS RELEASE – KANSAS:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.  – In the final road test before the conference championships, the Kansas swimming and diving team fell to Arkansas, 172-128, Saturday morning inside the UREC Natatorium.

The Jayhawks swam tough against the competition breaking individual and school records, finishing the meet with 22 top-three podium spots.

Sophomore Crissie Blomquist swam her way into a second place and personal-best in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:10.02. Freshman Katie Callahan also swam an individual top-time in the same event with a finish of 10:26.12.

Sophomore Manon Manning touched the wall in the 100-yard backstroke for a first-place finish and individual top-time of 53.70. Manning receiving another first-place in the 200-yard backstroke later (1:58.32) when the Jayhawks went one-two-three on the podium. Following Manning was junior Elizabeth Amato-Hanner (2:00.51) and sophomore Lauryn Parrish (2:02.46).

The diving well showed just as much action when senior Vicky Xu dove her way to a second place finish on the one-meter springboard (310.73) and a first-place finish on the three-meter springboard (398.63).

Xu’s three-meter score bumped her previously Kansas school record and created a new one, brushing past Arkansas’ defending NCAA Champion by .38 points. With that score, Xu managed to break the Arkansas pool record in that same event.

Junior Peri Charapich and freshman Alison Grass followed with individual top scores of 237.38 and 226.28, respectively.

KEY RACES

• Junior Jenny Nusbaum touched the wall first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:48.57.
• Sophomore Manon Manning swam her way into first in the 100-yard backstroke with an individual top-time of 53.70.
• Manning swam another first-place swim in the 200-yard backstroke with a mark of 1:58.32.
• Senior Vicky Xu nailed a first-place and record-breaking score of 398.63 on the three-meter springboard.
• The Jayhawks closed the competition with a first-place in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:24.95. The squad consisted of Nusbaum, Manning, freshman Claire Campbell and junior Carly Straight.

QUOTES
Head coach Clark Campbell
Overall performances:
“It was really good, all of our divers did well. It was our best dive meet with all three of them all year. I was really happy with how well Vicky did and also Peri and Alison had really good meets too. The swimming side of things were really good, both relays, the 200-yard medley and the 400-yard freestyle were the fastest we have been yet in a dual meet this year. We had a lot of good individual performances too. Jenny Nusbaum’s 200-yard freestyle was really good and then Manon Mannning both in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke were solid swims. The 100-yard backstroke was her (Manning’s) lifetime-best time which was really good to see and the 200-yard backstroke was her second-best time. Elizabeth Amato-Hanner was really good in both backstrokes and the 200-yard individual medley as well. Greta Olsen was turning it up in the butterfly events and Crissie Blomquistdid really well in the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyles. Katie Callahan and Libby Walker did well, they did a really tough double from the 1,000 freestyle all the way to the 200 butterfly to replicate what they will do at the Big 12 Championship. In all our goal was to come down here and compete and fine tune, and we did both of those really well.”

How everyone handled the last travel meet:
“They really zoned in from the time we left on taking care of business and we didn’t miss a beat. We got down here and had a really good workout and then got up this morning and raced really well. So you can’t be disappointed with that. We are having a difficult time right now finishing races, and that is just because of where we are in the training cycle, it will come. It is the beginning of February and they are a bit tired just from the type of work that we are doing. For them to battle through that and fight through the end on every race is really good to see.”

The overall thoughts on going against Arkansas:
“We were getting out touched. Their meets are a little earlier than ours and they are a bit further down and are sharp. So they were finishing their races really well and it is good for them with their meet being a couple weeks for their championships meet, but we still have a month until our conference meet, so we are just at a different place right now in our training. We knew going in that it was going to be tough being as tired and not being very fresh and the first thing that goes is the end of your race because it is tough to do when you are fatigued from what you did Monday through Friday. But like I said, they did a great job battling until the end.”

UP NEXT
The Jayhawks are set to host Iowa State for a two-day dual Feb. 8 and 9 inside Robinson Natatorium.