Feb. 24, 2012

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3 Meter Diving  / 400 Medley Relay  / 400 IM  / 100 Fly  / 200 Free  / 100 Breast  / 100 Back

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Led by senior captain Stephanie Payne and newcomer Sophiia Filatova, the Kansas swimming and diving team sits 20 points ahead of conference foe Iowa State, heading into the final day of the 2012 Big 12 Championships. The two swimmers reeled off a pair of 12 point, seventh place finishes, and giving their team the momentum it needed the rest of the way at the Mizzou Aquatic Center, Friday night.

KU started off the evening racking up 30 points, with their 3:43.10 time and fourth place finish in the 400 yard medley relay. Brooke Brull, Alison Lusk, Sofiia Filatova and Svetlana Golovchun helped bring home the points for the Jayhawks as they looked ahead to individual competition, following the men's three meter dive.

Once the boards were still, the Kansas women got back into the pool for the 400 IM and that is where they would tally another 25 points, thanks to three solid swims from Payne (4:17.81), Alison Moffit (4:27.84) and Rebecca Swank (4:28.80). The trio finished in seventh, 10^th and 11^th place respectively.

Next up for the `Hawks was the 100 fly, where they would further distance themselves from the fifth place Iowa State Cyclones, by seeing fast swims from Filatova, Deanna Marks, Mailia Johnson and Kath Liggett. The Jayhawks put a total of 26 points up on the board during the night's fourth event, with a seventh place, 54.25 finish from Filatova, who netted 12 all by herself. Riding the Russian native's waves were Deanna Marks who came in 11^th, with a time of 55.77, Malia Johnson (12^th/56.06) and Senior Kath Liggett who was just a second off the pace at 57.07, with her 14^th place finish.  

Carrying the momentum created from the Jayhawks' 100 fly performance were a pair of KU swimmers who competed in the 200 free. That's where Kansas would net an additional 11 points from junior Brooke Brull 11^th place, 1:50.32 performance and senior captain Shannon Garlie's 1:50.18 time and 12^th place finish. Brull would earn six points, while her upperclassmen counterpart compiled five.

The Jayhawks looked to extend their 31 point advantage between themselves and the Cyclones in the 100 breast and that's just what they did, with an 11^th place, 1:02.84 performance courtesy of sophomore Alison Lusk and a new lifetime best time of 1:02.97 for junior Brittany Rospierski, who finished 12^th. The duo added another 11 points to the Kansas 239-212 advantage over Iowa State for the fight for fourth.

The final event of the night was the 100 backstroke, which featured two of four Kansas scoring swimmers. Freshman Deanna Marks was the fastest Jayhawk in that event, finishing 14^th with a time of 57.37 and scoring three points, while junior Alyssa Rudman was not too far off of Marks' pace, placing 16^th with a time of 57.61, and netting one point. Racing in the `C' final, but not scoring, were Caroline Patterson (58.03) and Sara Snow (59.76).

The Jayhawks' will head into action in Saturday with a 243-223 advantage over fifth place Iowa State, and will look to extend their lead over the Cyclones with solid performances in seven total events.

TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY #3
1) Texas A&M -717 pts
2) Texas -569 pts
3) Missouri -451 pts
4) Kansas -243 pts
5) Iowa State -223 pts

DAY #3 NOTES
--Alyssa Rudman (57.87), Rachel Snyder (57.65), Sofiia Filatova (54.17) and Kara Stranski (56.52) all earned KU career bests in the 100 butterfly.
--Kaja Kolsek (1:05.85), Cora Powers (1:06.39), Alison Lusk (1:02.83) and Brittany Rospierski (1:02.97) each achieved new lifetime bests in the 100 breaststroke.
--Caroline Patterson (57.97) and Sara Snow (58.49) compiled new best times in the 100 backstroke.

DAY #3 QUOTES
Kansas head coach Clark Campbell...
On his team's performance in finals:
"I was really happy with our breaststroke today... Alison Lusk and Brittany Rospierski. Brittany had been wanting to break 1:03 for a long time, so I think those two swims really led the way tonight. Other than that I don't think that the rest of our events were up to par, and we were a little flat except for the 100 breaststroke. We just have to regroup and have a really good morning tomorrow."

On his team's performance in prelims versus finals:
"The meet itself, not just KU has not been the fastest meet. The times are just not reflective of a Big 12 meet. So we just have to rise above it and really compete at a high level."

On tomorrow's events:
"It's a really, really good day for us because in the 200's of the stroke we are very strong and our 100 freestylers are on. Then we have four very good milers as well as another good platform diver, so it should be a pretty strong day for us."

Big 12 Championship Coverage: http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&ATCLID=205177413