Nebraska v. Kansas

LAWRENCE, Kansas, January 19. TWO broken pool records and a 197-99 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers set the tone in honoring KU's five swimming and diving seniors at the Jayhawks' last home meet of the 2007-08 season. Junior co-captain Danielle Herrmann, who broke Robinson Natatorium records in both the 100 (1:02.84) and 200-yard (2:17.70) breaststroke events, led Kansas to the Big 12 victory. KU won all 16 events of the competition and moved to 5-2 overall (1-1, Big 12).

Prior to the start of the meet, seniors Lauren Bonfe, Nikki Maples, Jenny Roberts, Allie Rubino and Terri Schramka were congratulated with flowers and applause for their contributions to the KU swimming and diving program.

"It was really overwhelming and emotional," senior co-captain Lauren Bonfe said. "Just to swim in Robinson since we've been freshmen is an honor and we went out on top."

Freshman Erin Mertz led the Jayhawks in diving action, finishing first on both the one-meter (262.72) and three-meter (293.18) boards. Senior Jenny Roberts finished close behind in second in the three-meter competition (288.15), while junior Hannah McMacken finished fourth (255.25) on the three-meter board.

"Our divers dove extremely well today," diving coach Eric Elliott said. "We weren't sure how we would perform after such a long break, but we were much better than we thought we would be."

In other swimming competition, both the Kansas 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays took first. Junior Maria Mayrovich stacked three individual victories in freestyle competition, tapping in at 1:50.25 in the 200-yard free, 23.61 in the 50-yard free and 51.03 in the 100-yard free. Junior Ashley Leidigh lit up competition in the butterfly events, finishing first in both the 100 (55.86) and 200-yard (2:00.08) races, while sophomore Carrah Haley and Schramka each recorded backstroke victories, Haley in the 200-yard back event (2:06.46) and Schramka in the 100-yard back event (57.68). Sophomore Ashley Robinson placed first in the 400-yard IM, clocking in at 4:29.63.

In distance freestyle action, sophomore Emily Lanteigne reeled in honors in the 500-yard freestyle (4:57.89), while sophomore Alicia Casillas swam to a first-place finish in the 1000-yard free (10:03.66).

"We had a great meet, strong energy and lots of enthusiasm," assistant coach Jen Fox said. "We performed above our expectations. Nebraska prepares well and is always ready. It was great to honor our seniors. Our entire team and the seniors are always fired up for this day. It's emotional, but they did a great job of controlling the emotion and performing well."

Special thanks to Kansas for contributing this report.

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