Cyclones Finish Day One of Kansas Classic in Fourth

11.16.2012 | Swimming and Diving

By: cyclones.com

TOPEKA, Kan.- The Iowa State swimmers started off competition at the Kansas Classic Friday at the Capital Federal Natatorium in Topeka, Kan. The Cyclones finished the day in fourth place with 135 points. Host Kansas leads with 266 points.

“I thought overall the team really competed and raced hard in both sessions and that's what we had asked them to do,” head coach Duane Sorenson said. “We wanted them to be really aggressive and stand up and race and that's exactly what they did."

Amanda Paulson led the Cyclones with an overall first-place finish in both prelims and finals in the 50 freestyle event. Paulson finished with a time of 23.41 in the event finals, her top time for the season.

“Amanda had a fantastic prelim swim and turned around and really raced well in finals,” Sorenson said. "She was determined to beat out all the other really fast swimmers in this event and she did just that.”

Imelda Wistey was another “A” finalist for the evening with a seventh-place finish in the 200 IM, clocking in at 2:09.03.

“Imelda had a good IM swim,” Sorenson said. “Her technique was a little bit off and so there is a lot more in her that she could do, but overall she competed well.”

Also competing in the 200 IM were Dani Harris and Sarah Deis. Harris took a 12th-place finish with a time of 2:08.56, a personal-best for the season. Deis finished with a time of 2:09.38 to finish 14th.

The Cyclone 200 free relay team of Paulson, Katie Vollhaber, Sarah Norris and Deis started the evening session by finishing in fifth-place with a time of 1:36.43, another top time for the season.

In the 500 freestyle, Elizabeth Kleiner took 16th-place with a time of 5:09.14. Samantha Fossum and Kristy Kunkel also competed in this event for the Cyclones taking 19th and 20th with times of 5:07.31 and 5:09.53, respectively.

The Cyclones finished day one of competition with another fifth-place finish in the 400 medley relay. The squad of Bre Loeschke, Wistey, Kleiner and Paulson clocked in with a time of 3:52.55.

“Tomorrow should be a really good day for us because of the 100's,” Sorenson said. “The 100 back and 100 fly are very strong races for us so we are excited to see what we can do.”

Action at the Kansas Classic continues Saturday morning with prelims beginning at 10 a.m. CST and finals at 6 p.m. Events will include the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay (finals only) and 800 free relay (finals only).

Team Standings

1. University of Kansas, 266

2. University of Notre Dame, 257

3. University of Nebraska, 192

4. Iowa State University, 135

5. Rice University, 123

6. University of Nebraska-Omaha, 72

Individual Standings:

200 free relay

1.Nebraska, 1:34.18

5. Iowa State (Paulson, Vollhaber, Norris, Deis), 1:36.43

500 freestyle