NCAA Div. I Women: Minnesota Dumps Kansas, Colorado State
LAWRENCE, Kansas, Jan. 25. THE University of Minnesota women’s swimming and diving team gained nonconference wins over Kansas and Colorado State today. The Golden Gophers defeated Colorado State, 189-109 and Kansas, 189-110 for the two dual wins. Kansas downed Colorado State 174-125.
There were no men’s meets as both Colorado State and Kansas have killed off the men’s teams.
For the second straight weekend, senior captain Dana Baum led the Gophers with three first-place finishes. Baum and teammate Kate Hardt finished first and second in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:51.38 and 1:53.00, respectively.
Baum went on to win the 100 free (52.31) and the 500 free, clocking a time of 4:59.37. Baum’s time of 1:51.38 in the 200 free provisionally qualified her for the NCAA Championships in March.
Hardt added a first-place finish of her own when she won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:07.16, just short of her career best, 2:07.06. Kristin Rygg finished second behind Baum’s winning time in the 500 free in 5:04.95. Rygg also finished second in the 1000 free behind Kansas’ Beth Schryer, chipping in a time of 10:24.08.
Juleen Rodakowski and Keri Hehn each gained two first-place finishes in the win. Rodakowski won both the 100 and 200-yard fly, clocking times of 57.33 and 2:05.00.
For the second week in a row, Hehn won both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes that she competed in. Hehn finished with a 1:05.00 in the 100 and 2:18.97 in the 200, just missing the provisional NCAA qualifying time of
2:18.25.
Megan Moore won the 200-yard backstroke in 2:03.16, while coming in second in the 100 back with a time of 58.09.
The Minnesota divers put on a strong showing when the Gophers took all top three spots in the 1-meter event. Shannon Jackson led the Minnesota divers, finishing first in the 1-meter diving competition and second in the 3-meter. Jackson had her season-best diving score when she had a 293.80 in the 1-meter. It provisionally qualified her for the national championships. Her previous best in the 1-meter was a 273.23.
Holly Hanneman finished second in the 1-meter, while Abbie Bowden finished third. Hanneman’s score of 276.65 earned her a season best and provisionally qualified her for nationals as well.