OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha swimming & diving team closed its home slate in victorious fashion Friday night, celebrating Senior Night with a 139-84 win over Summit League foe Western Illinois at HPER Pool. The Mavericks won nine out of 13 events for the night.
Junior
Annika Clinton clinched an NCAA Zone Diving berth, making the NCAA cut in the 1-meter event with a winning score of 285.75. She is the third Maverick in the program's Division I era – as well as the third this season -- to earn a postseason bid. A native of Minnetonka, Minn., Clinton will compete alongside teammates
Andrea Brosnahan and
Monica Houck at the NCAA Zone D meet, March 5-7, in Minneapolis, Minn.
"Annika has shown some great diving this year," head coach
Todd Samland said. "She consistently puts together five great dives, and tonight she put in all six great dives to put her over the qualifying mark."
Omaha opened the meet by taking the top two spots in the 400 medley relay. The A team of
Kirsten Kracke,
Tiril Jensen,
Olivia McLain and
Rachel Morrow led the pack with a time of 3:58.58, while the B team of
Hilary Schieffer,
Brook Landt,
Samantha Starke and
Madison Ewald took second (4:05.43).
The Mavericks swept the top three spots in the 1000 free with
Lizzy Giese (10:54.81),
Anna Capoun (10:55.78) and
Rebecca Martini (11:19.61). They followed with two of the top three positions in the 200 free with
Kylie Vermeire (1:57.31) earning the win and
Naeleah Hadford (2:00.05) placing third.
The next two events also featured Maverick sweeps, starting with
Rachel Morrow (24.72), Ewald (24.73) and Kracke (24.95) going one-two-three in the 50 free. In the 200 IM,
Grete Baker led the way with a mark of 2:14.81, followed by
Hailey Brull (2:16.42) and Starke (2:17.39).
The meet then moved to the diving well, with Clinton's win in the 1-meter dive and teammates
Monica Houck (255.52) and
Jacquelyn Gaworski (254.24) behind her in second and third, respectively. Another Omaha sweep came in the 100 fly from winner
Olivia McLain (57.11), Morrow (58.75) and Brull (1:00.64). In the 100 free, Capoun (54.58) staked Omaha to another win, and Vermeire (54.76) claimed second place.
The Mavericks capped it on the diving side with another one-two-three finish, led by Houck's winning score of 284.55, which bettered her previous NCAA qualifying mark of 284.03 last Friday.
Madeline Taylor (278.40) and Clinton (265.40) took second and third, respectively.
"It was an emotional night for our Maverick family having to say goodbye to 13 amazing women in our senior class," Samland said. "We had some great swims tonight, which will help us gear up for the conference meet in less than three weeks.
"The highlight of the night was our diving program, with
Annika Clinton making her zone cut in the 1-meter. Maddy Taylor missed her zone cut by less than two points. Coach (Eric) Sprague really has the diving program going in the right direction, and we look forward to seeing how they perform in conference."
Omaha closes the regular season next weekend at the South Dakota Invite, sets for Feb. 2-3 in Vermillion, S.D.
