KU Starts Strong on First Day of ISU Dual
AMES, Iowa – A career-best effort from sophomore Madison Straight in the 200-yard freestyle highlighted an evening full of Jayhawk victories during the first of a two-day dual against Iowa State. KU finished Friday night’s competition leading ISU, 90.5-59.5, inside Beyer Pool.
Straight swam a 1:52.24 in the 200 free, finishing ahead of Iowa State’s Silqi Luo (1:53.36) as Kansas went on to win all but one of the events in the pool.
Entering the meet, KU hadn’t seen an event loss in more than 29 races and resumed their dominance in the pool first thing in Ames. Kansas’ ‘A’ 200-yard medley relay – consisting of Haley Bishop, Bryce Hinde, Yulya Kuchkarova and Pia Pavlic – won the race in 1:43.96, finishing almost two seconds ahead the rest of their competition.
“We kicked the meet off really well tonight,” head coach Clark Campbell said. “The 200 medley relay got us off to a really good start. That relay has so much potential, they are fun to watch.”
Freshman Libby Walker continued the streak, winning the 1,000-yard freestyle with a commanding performance and finishing in a time of 10:17.95. The Columbia, Missouri product led the pool by nearly 12 seconds. Lindsay Manning finished second with one of her best swims in the event this season (10:29.15).
Walker later clinched the 200-yard butterfly with a dual-best mark of 2:04.03, she was the sole Jayhawk to tally two individual victories on the first day of competition. Teammate Chelsie Miller followed close behind in the 200 fly with a swim of 2:04.50.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Pavlic used a dual-best time of 56.22 to out-touch fellow Jayhawk Kuchkarova (56.24) by four-hundredths of a second and solidify a first-place finish.
Despite a top performance from senior Bryce Hinde, who swam a 1:04.60, Iowa State sophomore Kasey Roberts snapped Kansas’ 33-event win streak with a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.15). Hinde’s second place finish was a dual-best time in the event. Lydia Pocisk (1:05.79) and Gretchen Pocisk (1:06.98) also turned it some of their season-best times in the 100 breast.
The Jayhawks responded with two more first-place finishes to end the evening only suffering one loss in the pool. After Walker’s win in the 200 fly, fellow freshman Haley Bishop closed out the first day of competition with a speedy performance in the 50-yard freestyle (23.22).
“Haley Bishop was big time tonight,” Campbell said. “That 23.22 was an outstanding swim.”
In the diving well, ISU earned the top three places in the three-meter with Else Brouillette winning it all with a score of 324. Kansas’ Nadia Khechfe (237.07), Amanda Maser (234.67) and Graylyn Jones (223.80) rounded out the diving competition.
Kansas and Iowa State will resume action Saturday morning at 10 a.m. in Beyer Pool. The two-day meet schedule is similar to the upcoming Big 12 Championships, giving the squads a preview of what to expect in three weeks when they head to Austin, Texas.
“They were either on or off tonight,” Campbell said. “There wasn’t much middle ground. When you get to a championship meet you’re going to have ebbs and flows – when it’s going well you want to keep that momentum going and if you have a rocky session you have to pick yourself up for the next session. So we have the opportunity to practice that and to come out and compete even better tomorrow.”
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