Jorgenson Sets Mile Record on Final Day

The final day of the 2023 Big Ten Championships was marked by a third school record set and a third A-final appearance for Shannon Stott.
 
Gena Jorgenson dropped an entire 20 seconds off her previous career-best mile time to break the school record with a 16:13.54. The freshman from Aberdeen, S.D., earned her first podium finish, placing sixth among the field. Additionally, that gives Jorgenson an NCAA B-Standard Cut by 17 seconds.
 
Molly Rosenthal added a 17th-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle with a 16:57.11.
 
Stott capped off her historic performance with her third A-final qualification out of her three individual events. In the 200 butterfly prelims, Stott clocked a 1:57.29, moving her up to No. 2 on the All-Time list. The senior from St. Albans, Great Britain went on to finish seventh with a 1:57.36. On Thursday, Stott set a new school record in the 500 freestyle with a 4:41.65 and finished eighth overall in the final. Stott is also No. 2 in Nebraska history in the 200 freestyle after swimming a 1:46.46 qualifying time on Friday.
 
Sarah Barton cut a full second off her previous 200 butterfly career-best to clock a 1:59.77, sending her to the C-final. In the finals session, Barton beat her best time again to place 18th overall with a 1:59.46.
 
Berkeley Livingston joined Barton in the 200 butterfly C-final, clocking a 2:01.36 to place 19th.
 
In the 200 breaststroke, Maia Hall swam to a B-final victory to place ninth overall with a 2:11.63. JoJo Randby swam a career-best 2:14.33 in the prelims to earn a spot in the B-final. She dropped over a second off her prelims time in the final to place 12th with a 2:13.25.
 
Randby, a sophomore from Omaha, is coming off of a record-breaking 100 breaststroke performance. In Friday’s prelim, Randby broke Penny Heyns’ 27-year-old 100 breaststroke school record with a 1:00.10 to send her to the A-final, where she re-broke the record with a 1:00.07.
 
Rounding out Nebraska’s breaststroke finalists, Sydney McCracken clocked a 2:16.07 in the prelims to qualify for the C-final, where she finished 23rd.
 
Madesyn Ronquillio was NU’s top finisher in the 200 backstroke, just missing the finals with a 25th-place finish in 1:58.81.
 
Emily Haimes placed 38th in the 100 freestyle with a 50.76.
 
Ohio State won the team race with 1425 points. Nebraska finished 10th with 437 points.

Up next, a portion of the roster will travel to Columbia, Mo. on Feb. 25-26 for an opportunity to drop times at the Mizzou Last Chance Meet.

 

Husker Finalists

A-Final

500 Freestyle: Shannon Stott

200 Freestyle: Shannon Stott

100 Breaststroke: JoJo Randby

200 Butterfly: Shannon Stott

 

B-Final

500 Freestyle: Gena Jorgenson

400 IM: Berkeley Livingston, Sarah Barton

100 Breaststroke: Maia Hall

200 Breaststroke: Maia Hall, JoJo Randby

 

C-Final

500 Freestyle: Molly Rosenthal

200 IM: Berkeley Livingston, Sarah Barton

100 Butterfly: Caitlin Cairns, Lexi Kucera

100 Breaststroke: Sydney McCracken

200 Breaststroke: Sydney McCracken

400 IM: Gena Jorgenson

200 Butterfly: Sarah Barton, Berkeley Livingston