Cyclones Have Historic End To Big 12 Championship

Wednesday, February 24

Austin, Texas

All Day

Iowa State

Big 12 Championship

Cyclones Have Historic End To Big 12 Championship

02.27.2016 | Swimming and Diving

Day 1 Recap Day 2 Recap Day 3 Recap RESULTS

By: cyclones.com

AUSTIN, Texas – The Iowa State 400 freestyle relay squad Saturday put an exclamation point on a historic finish for the Cyclones at the 2016 Big 12 Championship meet at the Texas Swimming Center. The Cyclones finished in third place at the meet with 570.5 points, marking the first time Iowa State has finished top-three at its conference championship in three-straight years since 1992-94.

“I like where we are [as a program]," said head coach Duane Sorenson. "We're in a good place and we know West Virginia, TCU and Kansas are going to get better. We can't just be happy with we are now - we have to keep working hard going forward."

The last night of the meet kicked off with the 200 backstroke, in which Marissa Engel led the Cyclones with a time of 1:57.26 in the 'A' heat to take fourth place and earn Second-Team All-Big 12 honors. Kaylee Kucera and Harper Emswiler represented the Cyclones in the 'C' heat, clocking in times of 2:03.38 and 2:05.73, respectively.

Three swimmers set career-best times in the 100 Freestyle, including two who re-broke their records set in prelims. Ashton Ehrecke led the Cyclones off in the 'C' heat, touching in 52.03 to take a total of .20 seconds off her time entering the day. In the last individual event of her career, senior Alex Flatness cut .22 seconds her career-best to swim a 50.89, while Silqi Luo knocked .49 seconds of her personal record on the day by touching in 51.12.

In the 1650 freestyle, Mollie McNeel and Haley Ruegemer both earned Second-Team All-Big 12 recognition for the first Big 12 honors of their career. McNeel, a senior who transferred to Iowa State last summer, took fourth place with a time of 16:59.29 to become the eighth Cyclone ever to break the 17:00 mark. Ruegemer, a freshman swimming the mile for the first time in her life, placed sixth with a finish of 17:08.92.

Kasey Roberts collected her third All-Big 12 honor of the week by completing the 200 breaststroke in 2:15.29 to take fifth place and earn Second-Team recognition. Danica Delaquis claimed the title in the 'B' heat of the event, touching in 2:16.77. Megan Childs also swam in Delaquis' heat, finishing in 2:23.63.

Mary Kate Luddy led the Cyclone charge in the 200 butterfly, taking second place in the 'B' heat by touching in 2:03.06. Team captain Savanna Townsend clocked in at 2:04.03 in the same heat, dropping 4.27 seconds off her personal-best entering the day.

Senior Shahar Silberman, a native of Petah Tikva, Israel, had a special moment as she wrapped up her Iowa State career with her father – who travelled more than 7,100 miles to be at the meet – in attendance. Silberman took third place in the 'C' heat with a 2:10.08 finish.

In the diving well – where the Cyclones made history by putting three divers into finals for the first time ever – Elyse Brouillette and Julie Dickinson earned Second-Team All-Big 12 honors with 236.50 points and 222.90 points, respectively. Becky Stochl finished in a career-best eighth place with 203.20 points. Dickinson's and Stochl's scores were both new personal records.

"I was quizzing [diving coach] Jeff [Warrick] on if that's ever been done before, but not in the Big 12 era," Sorenson said. "That's really exciting for Jeff's program and those three divers."

To cap off another great Big 12 Championship meet out of the Cyclones, the 400 freestyle relay squad of Townsend, Luo, Roberts and Flatness clocked in at 3:22.93 to set a new Iowa State record. Roberts' split of 50.04 led the way for the relay team.

“I really like the way our women came back and competed tonight," Sorenson said. "We finished the meet off really strong by setting a new school record and getting second place in the 400 free realy, so I'm very proud of those four women and the way they raced and competed their hearts out."

Five Career-Bests Fall In 100 Freestyle, Divers Make School History
The first victory of the final day of the 2016 Big 12 Championship went to Kaylee Kucera, who opened the day with a dominating 3.15-second win in her heat of the 200 backstroke. Marissa Engel joined her fellow senior with another outstanding performance, posting a season-best 1:57.87 to clinch a spot in the 'A' heat of finals.

Evan Hundley got the ball rolling on what would turn into an event full of records for the Cyclones, swimming a career-best 52.84 in the 100 freestyle. In the following heats, Maddie Rastall (51.55), Silqi Luo (51.41), Ashton Ehrecke (52.16) and Harper Emswiler (51.99) all set personal records in the event. In total, the five Cyclones took 1.68 seconds off their previous bests.

All three Cyclones who competed the 200 breaststroke prelims qualified for scoring heats in finals, led by Kasey Roberts' time of 2:16.28 to take second place in her heat. Danica Delaquis and Megan Childs swam times of 2:18.34 and 2:22.05, respectively, to earn spots in the 'B' heat.

Savanna Townsend hopped on the personal record train, clocking in a mark of 2:04.01 in the 200 butterfly to best her previous record by 2.37 seconds. Mary Kate Luddy swam a 2:03.44 to join Townsend in the 'B' heat, while Shahar Silberman's time of 2:09.55 to qualify for the 'C' heat.

The Cyclone divers closed out prelims by sending a school-record three divers to finals on the platform, led by senior Elyse Brouillette's score of 224.85 to earn the No. 4 slot in finals. Julie Dickinson earned a score of 206.40 in prelims, while Becky Stochl qualified for the first Big 12 Championship finals round with a score of 201.05. It marked the first time a trio of Cyclones have made finals in any diving event at a conference championship meet.

The Cyclone swimmers return to the pool in the Texas Swimming Center Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. for the Last Chance Meet while the divers await the NCAA Zone Diving Championships March 7-9 in College Station, Texas.