Feb. 24, 2012

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

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A total of 16 Kansas swimmers will be competing in tonight’s finals, thanks to their preliminary performances on the third day of competition at the Big 12 Championships. A little more than 75-percent (16 of 21) KU swimmers who took the water this morning will again dive into the pool at the Mizzou Aquatic Center tonight, in large part because of eight top times that were put on the board this morning.

To start Friday’s preliminary session, Kansas Senior Stephanie Payne swam to a second place finish and a time of 4:13.82 in the 400 IM. Rebecca Swank and Alison Moffit will also join her in the night session as they finished ninth (4:29.30), and tenth (4:29.52) respectively. Payne will be competing in the ‘A’ finals, while Swank and Moffit will swim in the ‘B’.

Joining those three in finals competition will be another trio of KU swimmers, who were among the top two-dozen finishers in the 100 butterfly. Newcomer Sofiia Filatova was the fastest Jayhawk in that event with a fifth place finish and a lifetime best 54.17 time. Following in Filatova’s footsteps were Malia Johnson (56.07) and Deanna Marks (56.17), who finished in 16^th and 17^th place respectively. Rachel Snyder (57.65) and Alyssa Rudman (57.87), both earned KU career best times, but did not qualify for finals.

A pair of Jayhawks would then earn their way to the finals of the 200 free with solid performances in preliminaries. Senior Shannon Garlie (1:49.87) and junior Brooke Brull (1:50.34) finished in 12^th and 15^th place, and will look toward swimming in tonight’s ‘B’ final.

In the 100 breast, Alison Lusk would earn a spot in the ‘B’ finals, with a 12^th place finish and a fastest KU career time of 1:02.83. Junior Brittany Rospierski will join her in the ‘B’ final, thanks to her 1:03.41 performance and 13^th place finish. Newcomer Kaja Kolsek (1:05.85) 22^nd overall to earn a spot in the ‘C’ finals.

The last event during preliminaries was the 100 backstroke, where junior Alyssa Rudman finished with a 57.05 time, good enough for a 19^th place tie and a spot in the ‘C’ finals. Joining her in the ‘C’ heat were freshmen Deanna Marks (57.27) in 21^st place and Caroline Patterson (57.97) in 23^rd. Junior Svetlana Golovchun rounded out the 100 back finals qualifiers with her 24^th place finish and 57.98 time. Patterson and sophomore Sara Snow (58.49) earned career best times in the event.

Three-meter diving preliminaries are taking place during the lunch hour, while the finals get underway at 6 p.m., in Columbia.

Live Championship Results: http://www.mutigers.com/livestats/c-swim/big12/?DB_OEM_ID=10410