La Salle, St. Michaels vs. Kansas

MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Rico, January 7. THE Kansas swimming and diving team showed no signs of rust in their first competitive meet in more than a month, as they reeled of 238 points en route to a first place finish in the Mayaguez Invite.

The Jayhawks finished in first place in every event but one, and had back-to-back, first and second place finishers during a total of five events as they defeated first time opponents LaSalle and St. Michaels.

"We had some really good swims and I am very pleased with how hard the team has been training," KU head coach Clark Campbell said following the invite. "This meet was sort of a break in the normal routine of training, so they were able to get into meet mode and race."

The invite was conducted in a long course format (meters) as opposed to yards (short course), which collegiate meets are centered around. The shift in formats gave swimmers an opportunity to shine in certain events, and a number of them did not disappoint.

"I was really happy with Morgan Sharp and Shannon Garlie in the 200 freestyle," Campbell thought. "I was also pleased with Malia Johnson who will not show up in the results, but she time trialed the 200 butterfly and did really well for this point in the season."

Sharp and Garlie finished one and two in the 200 free with times of 2:09.17 and 2:10.44, good enough for 23 total points between them.

Other first place finishers for the Jayhawks included Brooke Brull in the 50 back (32.63), Brittany Rospierski in the 50 breast (35.62), as well as Svetlana Golovchun's 27.77 time in the 50 free and Stephanie Payne's 2:26.45 performance in the 200 meter IM. Junior diver Christy Cash also came out on top in the three meter dive, with her 254.02 score.

"I thought everyone, for how tough and challenging the last few weeks have been, performed really well," Campbell said.

Kansas finished the invite ahead of second place LaSalle by 103 points and third place St. Michaels by 153. The Jayhawks will not have long to relish their victory as it is back in the pool for them later in the day, to make sure their momentum does not get lost in the tropical waters.

"We train back at the pool tonight and then tomorrow we will do another double," the KU head coach said. "Tomorrow morning will be one of the more challenging practices, and then at night we will do an ocean swim."

Campbell's squad returns to Lawrence on Tues. Jan. 10, and will have just three days to rest for senior day, which takes place Sat. Jan. 14 against Nebraska.

We are in the middle of phase four of our training and we will continue that up through the Nebraska meet," he explained. "The end of this training block is probably the toughest of the year, but the week school starts we will shift into a different phase."

That block of training as well as the senior class' home swimming career will come to an end at Robinson Natatorium, just seven days from today. Meet time is slated for 1 p.m. against one time conference foe, Nebraska.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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