Northern Iowa, Iowa Lakes Community College Lead Mutual Of Omaha Invitational

OMAHA, Nebraska, December 7. AFTER one day of competition at the Mutual of Omaha Invite, the University of Northern Iowa women and Iowa Lakes Community College men have jumped out to the lead in the team standings. Host Nebraska-Omaha won the first four events of the evening last night and sits second overall in the women’s team standings. Today is the final day of the meet, where the Mavericks will look to take home the team title.

Nebraska-Omaha Press Release

The Omaha swimming and diving team opened the first day of its annual Mutual of Omaha Invite in second place with 645 points.

The Mavericks swept the first four events of the evening, taking first-place finishes and breaking season-best times.

The 200-yard free relay team took first place to open final competitions of the two-day Invite, setting a season-best time of 1:35.88.

In the 400-yard IM, Omaha had eight swimmers make the evening finals. Freshman Morgan Stepp paced-out each leg of the race, which landed her in first place at 4:30.11. Junior Lexi Bergeron and senior Hannah Alexander took third and fourth, respectively.

Senior Madeline Hutt clocked 1:04.49 in the 100-yard breast to give UNO its third top finish.

The fourth win for Omaha came from sophomore Natalie Renshaw in the 50-yard free (23.53). The Omaha, Neb., native, hailing from Millard North, bested her previous season-high time of 24.13 against South Dakota State. Senior Whitney Korgan added a third-place finish in the same race with a time of 24.26. Additionally, Renshaw later added a second-place finish in the 200-yard free (1:51.09).

Freshman Hayley Duncan was Omaha’s top finisher in the 200-yard back. The Maverick newcomer, a Millard South alum, took third place with a time of 2:15.09.

Sophomore Claire Alexander and freshman Sydney Dhabalt took eighth and ninth, respectively.

Junior Jenna Foiles led the charge of five Omaha final qualifiers in the 100-yard fly, taking first place (57.55). Foiles, from Albuquerque, N.M., topped her previous time season-best time of 58.47 in UNO’s home opener against Illinois State.

Omaha closed Friday’s competition, winning the 400-yard medley relay. Renshaw, Hutt, Foiles, and Korgan collectively clocked 3:53.68.

“We swam fantastic today. We’re doing things we need to get done to move our program forward,” said head coach Todd Samland. “We’re looking forward to tomorrow.”

In 3-meter diving, sophomore Miranda Knipfer took first place with 250.15 points.

At the end of day one, Northern Iowa leads the Invite with 777.5 points. With Omaha closely in second, Nebraska-Kearney follows in third place at 190.5 points. Iowa Lakes CC (171), College of Saint Mary (109), Morningside (109), and Colorado (104) round out the standings.

In the men’s competition, Iowa Lakes CC is in first place with 299 points. Colorado (264) and Morningside (242) are in second and third, respectively.

The Mutual of Omaha Invite is a special event for the UNO swimming and diving program. Samland expressed his gratitude, saying, “Our volunteers do a lot for us.” Samland, in his 17th season at UNO, added that the event wouldn’t be possible without the help of parents and friends of the program.

UNO will rally to take the lead as the Mutual of Omaha Invite continues Saturday at HPER Swimming Pool. Prelims begin at 10 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m.

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