Benson Breaks Two School Records to Lead ISU

COLUMBIA, Mo.- The Iowa State swimming and diving team collected a large sum of points in the 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 3-meter diving to stand in fifth place with 225 points heading into the final day of competition. Texas A&M leads the way with 582 points.

The breaststroke duo of Jeli Nixt and Marni Benson both showed their strength in the 100 with Benson finishing second (1:01.72) and Nixt third (1:01.82). Their times earned them All-Big 12 first-team honors and make them the top-two Cyclones all-time in the event. They also both went under the NCAA ?B' qualifying mark. Krista Moyer and Lindsey Frodyma both earned the Cyclones points in the event as well. Moyer finished 12th and her prelim time of 1:04.16 places her fifth all-time while Frodyma touched the wall in 14th with her prelim time of 1:05.04 placing her eighth all-time.

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Day Three Results Day Two Recap	_	Day One Recap

“It was fantastic, it was like watching practice,” said head coach Duane Sorenson. “Marni and Jeli were right next to each other and they were touching the walls together. Marni kept her stroke together and was able to out touch Jeli”

In the final heat of the preliminary session, Lindsay Wegner swam to an NCAA ?B' cut time of 54.96 in the 100 back to make it to the evening finals of the event. In the evening, Wegner finished seventh in the finals (55.08).

“Wegs had a fantastic day,” said Sorenson. “She got into the consolation heat of the 100 fly with a personal best and came back in the 100 back, destroyed her personal best by 1.3 seconds and placed in both the 100 fly and 100 back, a tough double.”

Wegner was not the only Cyclone backstroker to see success in the event. Megan Thompson swam to a 12th-place finish and fifth in the ISU record books with her 55.98 time from prelims. Freshmen Dainelle Levings, Hannah Smith and Elizabeth Holman along with sophomore Amy Bauer finished the race in under a minute for the best times of their careers.

“This morning was so much fun because they all lit it up,” said Sorenson. “We knew that they could do this, we have seen it in practice but not in a meet. To have them all swim personal best times was just fantastic.”

The Cyclones began the evening session with their third school record of the meet with the 200 free relay team of Abby Glaser, Lindsey Behrens, Benson and Frances Calzada. The team's time of 1:32.92 was .03 seconds under the school record set in the 02-03 season.

Glaser could not repeat her all-conference performance in the 100 fly from last season but picked up valuable points with her 11th-place finish. Wegner also earned points with her 15th-place finish.

Tien Tran was at it again in diving, finishing fourth on 3-meter with a score of 304.85 to capture her second All-Big 12 honor of the meet. Tran will go for her third all-conference finish tomorrow on the platform.

“I thought she did great,” said diving coach Jeff Warrick. “She was a little off in prelims but did well enough to get into the finals. She really stepped up and did a great job tonight, there is still room for improvement but I am proud of how she did when the pressure was on.”

Abby Christensen finished 14th with a 239.05.

The Big 12 Championships conclude Saturday with prelims for swimmers beginning at 10 a.m. and platform diving prelims at 12:30 p.m. The finals for platform diving are at 5 p.m. and the swimming finals begin at 6 p.m.

Team Scoring (After 14 Events)
1. Texas A&M 582 points
2. Texas 580
3. Missouri 395
4. Kansas 333
5. Iowa State 225
6. Nebraska 194

200 Free Relay
1. Texas A&M, 1:28.58
6. Iowa State (Abby Glaser, Lindsey Behrens, Marni Benson, Frances Calzada) 1:32.92

400 IM
1. Kathleen Hersey, Texas 4:07.76
21. Taylor Vieau, ISU 4:28.79

100 Butterfly
1. Triin Aljand, Texas A&M, 52.47
11. Abby Glaser, ISU 55.20
15. Lindsay Wegner, ISU 56.10

200 Freestyle
1. Karlee Bispo, Texas 1:44.21
23. Jenny Vondenkamp, ISU 1:52.45

100 Breaststroke
1. Carlye Ellis, Texas 1:00.74
2. Marni Benson, ISU 1:01.72
3. Jeli Nixt, ISU 1:01.84
12. Krista Moyer, ISU 1:04.46
14. Lindsey Frodyma, ISU 1:05.14

100 Backstroke
1. Lindsey King, Texas A&M 53.26
7. Lindsay Wegner, ISU 55.08
12. Megan Thompson, ISU 56.33

3-Meter Diving
1. Jessica Livingston, Texas 362.00
4. Tien Tran, ISU 304.85
14. Abby Christensen, ISU 239.05

Players Mentioned

Amy Bauer

Amy Bauer

Lindsey Behrens

Lindsey Behrens

Marni Benson

Marni Benson

Frances Calzada

Frances Calzada

Abby Christensen

Abby Christensen

Lindsey Frodyma

Lindsey Frodyma

Abby Glaser

Abby Glaser

Krista Moyer

Krista Moyer

Jeli Nixt

Jeli Nixt

Hannah Smith

Megan Thompson

Megan Thompson

Tien Tran

Tien Tran

Taylor Vieau

Jenny Vondenkamp

Jenny Vondenkamp

Lindsay Wegner

Lindsay Wegner

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