UNI swimming: Panthers shatter personal bests at Kansas Classic

Friday, November 18

Topeka, KS

10 AM / 6 PM

University of Northern Iowa

Kansas Classic

UNI swimming: Panthers shatter personal bests at Kansas Classic

11/21/2022 7:52:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Day One Results Day Two Results Day Three Results

Panthers win two events outright with 21 personal bests during three-day event

TOPEKA, Kan. --- UNI swimmers took to the pool at the Capitol Federal Natatorium in Topeka over the weekend to compete at the Kansas Classic. The Panthers claimed two individual victories and recorded 21 lifetime best performances, leading to numerous changes to the top-ten performers in program history.

"This weekend presented a great challenge with a couple power-five teams, along with some really strong MVC teams in order to see where we are at in the season," head coach Nick Lakin said. "We had some incredible swims throughout the weekend and this team is really starting to round into form."

Over the three-day, prelims and finals invitational, the Panthers recorded 432 team points and a fourth place finish behind power-five opponents Iowa State and Kansas, as well as conference foe Indiana State.

Sophomore Faith Larsen picked up the first victory on the weekend, taking the 50-yard freestyle by over three-tenths of a second in a 23.06. Additionally, while leading off the third place finishing 200-yard freestyle relay, Larsen broke the 23-second mark for the first time in her career with a 22.96, tying for the seventh fastest performance in team history. Her time leads the MVC rankings.

Larsen also cracked a time barrier in the 100-yard freestyle. Moving to third on the all-time performer rankings, Larsen posted a 50.99 to take tenth in the event. Her time sits fifth in the MVC.

"Barrier milestones are a really unique aspect of swimming that are often more individually based," Larsen said. "It was really fun to lead off the relay with my best time and be able to celebrate that along with the team success."

Also in the sprints, junior Clare Christensen jumped from outside the top-ten performers to fourth all-time in the 50-yard freestyle with a 23.59. She also moved to ninth in the 100-yard freestyle with a 52.16 in the 100-yard freestyle finals. Senior Casey Summers narrowly missed the top-ten in the 50-yard freestyle with a 23.79, demolishing her previous personal best time.

"Casey had amazing swims. A well-deserved weekend for her," Lakin said. "And Clare was outstanding across all three of her swims this weekend. Their success this weekend generated tons of excitement within the group."

The second win of the weekend came in the 200-yard backstroke with junior Amber Finke picking up a lifetime best of 1:57.55 and winning by nearly a second. The swim is the sixth fastest performance in team history.

"After seeing everyone swim so well throughout the weekend, I wanted to end on a high note," Finke said. "I knew I had set myself up well from the morning and really tried to improve on the little things to put together a good evening swim."

Finke also claimed a fourth place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a 55.20, with teammate Helena Heuberger taking sixth in a 55.58.

The Panthers put two in the championship final for the 200-yard freestyle with sophomore Hallory Domnick and senior Natalia Verastegui posting lifetime best times in the prelims. Domnick improved her time further in the finals to take fifth with a 1:51.83, moving to eighth all-time. She also jumped to ninth in the 500-yard freestyle with a 5:03.85.

Freshman Sydney Aird improved to fifth in program history with 1:04.05 in the 100-yard breaststroke and a 2:21.15 in the 200-yard breaststroke. In the 100 breaststroke, she took fifth overall. Fellow freshman Hannah Nedder joined the top-ten in the 100-yard butterfly, swimming a 57.05 in finals.

Junior Scout Bergwall posted personal best times in the 100-yard butterfly with a 56.63 and the 200-yard butterfly in a 2:05.28. Those swims rank her seventh and third respectively. The 200-yard butterfly came through dominating performance in the consolation final, with Domnick taking third in the heat.

In the distance races, sophomore Olivia Chambers placed eighth in the 1650-yard freestyle with a personal best of 17:21.74, cracking the top-five in program history. Chambers also became the third fastest performer in 400-yard individual medley and sixth fastest in the 500-yard freestyle on the weekend.

Three relays jumped into the top-ten performances in program history, with the 200-yard freestyle relay leading the way. The team of Larsen, Christensen, Finke, and Lear posted a 1:32.97 as the third fastest performance and fastest since 2018. The 400-yard medley relay time of 3:45.68 was the eighth fastest and the 400-yard freestyle relay became the ninth fastest with a 3:26.29.

"The 200 free relay really stepped up and that has us excited about where we are headed come February," Lakin said. "The weekend presented all of our athletes with some things we need to improve on and we are looking forward to getting right back to work."

UP NEXT
UNI divers head to Iowa City for the Hawkeye Invitational on Dec. 1-2. On the swimming side, Faith Larsen will compete at the Toyota U.S. Open Championships in Greensboro, N.C. beginning on Nov. 30.