Kucera, Roberts Make 'B' Cuts On Day Three

02.26.2016 | Swimming and Diving

By: cyclones.com

AUSTIN, Texas – Kaylee Kucera and Kasey Roberts each swam NCAA 'B' Standard times as the Cyclones placed 18 swimmers in finals for individual events on the third day of the 2016 Big 12 Championship. With one day of competition left, Iowa State is in third place with 386.5 points and sits just 48 points out of second place.

Iowa State picked up 11 medals on the day to accompany the pair of 'B' cuts, bringing the meet total to 24 pieces of hardware taken home by Cyclone swimmers and divers.

Friday's finals session began with three-meter diving finals, which featured Iowa State's Elyse Brouillette and Julie Dickinson for the second day in a row. Brouillette led the way with a 322.25 to take second place – her career-best finish in the event at the Big 12 Championships. Dickinson wasn't far behind, taking sixth place with 284.25 points.

Brouillette earned First-Team All-Big 12 recognition for her placing, while Dickinson picked up a Second-Team All-Big 12 honor.

Kucera represented the Cyclones in the 'A' heat of the 100 butterfly, touching in 56.03 to take seventh place. Team captain Savanna Townsend swam the 'B' heat of the event, posting a 29.36 split in the final 50 yards to out-touch TCU's Margaret Burkhardt to take first place.

After setting a personal record in the 200 freestyle in prelims, Silqi Luo earned the first All-Big 12 award of her career by taking fifth place in 1:49.94 to make the second-team. Brooke Evensen and Mollie McNeel provided some depth for the Cyclones in the event, swimming times of 1:51.17 and 1:54.26 to pick up nine team points in the 'B' heat.

In the 100 breaststroke, Roberts earned her second all-conference honor in as many days while Danica Delaquis picked up the first such honor of her career. Roberts (1:02.26) posted an NCAA 'B' cut in the event while Delaquis swam a 1:02.67 as both took home Second-Team All-Big 12 recognition.

Kucera was back at it for Iowa State in the 100 backstroke, finishing seventh with a time of 55.30 to reach the podium for the second time of the night. Propelled by a 28.25 split down the back 50, Marissa Engel took first place in 'B' heat of the event. Her split was the fastest by .31 seconds.

Laura Miksch, Alex Flatness, Maddie Rastall and Townsend rounded out the night for the Cyclones with a bronze-medal finish in the 200 freestyle relay, finishing the event in 1:32.86 and only .19 seconds out of the silver spot.

“I thought today we swam really well and in finals tonight [too],” said head coach Duane Sorenson. “Overall, it was a good day. [Kansas] had even a better day so they're about 45 points ahead of us and we have our work cut out to try to catch them tomorrow morning, but we're ready to give it our best shot.”

Kucera Makes Two 'A' Heats, Eight Personal Records Fall In Prelims
Day three of the meet opened with the 400 individual medley, in which Haley Ruegemer and Mary Kate Luddy swam times of 4:27.29 and 4:28.48, respectively, to qualify for the 'B' heat finals. Ruegemer's mark beat her personal record by .47 seconds.

Kucera became the first Cyclone of the day to reach an 'A' heat, completing the 100 butterfly in 55.78 seconds to finish just hundredths of a second off her record. Savanna Townsend also qualified for a scoring heat, swimming a time of 56.19 to make the 'B' heat.

Three Cyclones set personal records in the 200 freestyle, led by Luo, whose time of 1:49.39 made her the fifth swimmer in team history to break the 1:50.00 mark in the event. Flatness and Evan Hundley also set new career-best marks in the event, earning times of 1:53.69 and 1:55.52, respectively. Luo earned a spot in the 'A' heat of finals with her time, while Brooke Evensen's finish of 1:52.02 earned her a spot in the 'B' heat.

A pair of Iowa State swimmers qualified for the 'A' heat in the 100 breaststroke, led by Roberts' time of 1:02.60. Delaquis made the first 'A' heat of her career with a personal-best time of 1:03.45, while Miksch earned a spot in the 'B' heat by finishing in 1:04.60 for a new career-best result.

Two more personal records fell for Iowa State in the 100 backstroke to round out the prelim session, as Kucera again qualified for the 'A' heat with a time of 54.62 and Harper Emswiler swam a 55.89 to make the B heat. Emsilwer was joined by Marissa Engel (55.65) and Guy Shilon (57.98).

On the three-meter board, Brouillette and Dickinson advanced to finals for the second time in as many days with scores of 310.05 and 281.45, respectively. Becky Stochl again scored for Iowa State in the diving well, finishing 14th place with a mark of 238.35.