Huskers Race to Day 2 Wins at Mizzou

Nebraska swimming and diving had a dominant performance on the second day of competition at the Mizzou Invitational, with two individual victories and a relay win on Thursday.

After a first-place finish in the 500 freestyle yesterday with a time that ranks third in the nation (4:44.04), Autumn Haebig won another title in the 200 freestyle. The fifth-year senior from Grafton, Wis. swam the event in 1:46.94, a time that ranks fifth nationally in the event.

Haebig teamed with senior Shannon Stott, sophomore Lexi Kucera and freshman Milica Opacic to win the final event of the day, the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 7:15.75 which stands as the third-best time in the nation right now.

Berkeley Livingston swam a lifetime best (4:17.10) in the 400 IM to claim the title, while sophomore Sarah Barton cut off nine seconds from her previous best to finish fourth (4:23.25).

The Huskers started off strong in the first event of the day in Columbia, Mo., with five swimmers taking the top eight spots in prelims and qualifying for finals in the 100 butterfly. Kucera led the charge as the runner-up with a career-best time of 54.30. The Big Red also claimed the next three spots with Opacic in third (54.69), Stott in fourth (54.90) and junior Kaitlyn Barth in fifth (55.45). Sophomore Caitlin Cairns rounded out the Huskers in the finals with an eighth-place finish with a time of 56.49.

“The 100 fly was really good,” Nebraska Head Coach Pablo Morales said. “Our depth in that event was readily apparent, and girls performed really well. It was good to see a lot of Huskers out there in the final heat.”

In the 100 butterfly, the Huskers had three swimmers earn spots in the finals with freshman Maia Hall finishing fifth (1:02.64), sophomore Ella Stein taking sixth (1:02.89) and JoJo Randby in seventh (1:03.99).

Senior Madesyn Ronquillio and freshman Madison Lloyd swam in the 100 backstroke finals. Ronquillio (Tracy, Calif.) notched a fifth-place finish with a 55.18 and Lloyd (Kingwood, Texas) finished eighth (56.69).

Senior divers Sara Troyer and Hallie Roman qualified for the one-meter finals after both qualifying in the three-meter yesterday. Troyer took fourth with a 278.10, while Roman finished sixth with a 238.80.

In the team race, Nebraska remains in second behind Mizzou and will continue to battle tomorrow for the final day of the invitational.

“We are anticipating a great final day,” Morales said. “We typically like to focus on getting better each day at these meets and traditionally that is what we have done. That has kind of been our motto and we have just gotten better each day and each session. We are looking forward to a great finish tomorrow.”

Prelims begin at 9:30 a.m. (CT) and the finals session will start at 5:30 p.m. (CT).