The ISU swimming and diving team earned a sixth place finish by scoring 176 team points at the Big 12 Championships this weekend. Texas won the conference title with 948 team points. 

“We had a number of outstanding swims,” said coach Duane Sorenson. “The whole conference has improved so much that we didn’t place as well as we wanted, but we swam very solid all the way through.”

The Cyclones were led by sophomore Dani Harris. Harris swam career-best times in the 200 individual medley as well as in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. 

Senior Jenny Vondenkamp finished her ISU career with a strong Big 12 meet.

“Jenny is what we call Miss Consistency,” Sorenson said. “She was out there every race swimming her heart out.”

Vondenkamp contributed to the sixth place finish of the 800 free relay team, which clocked in at 7:31.37 and earned 26 points for the team.

“I was more relaxed this year,” Vondenkamp said. “It went really fast, but I think I had more fun this year.”

Vondenkamp was also one of four Cyclones to earn points for the team in the 1650 free. Vondenkamp, Meredith Doran, Megan Thompson and Alex Gustafson finished 11th, 13th, 14th and 16th, respectively. 

“We knew we were going to score well in that race,” Sorenson said. “Our distance kids have always been very consistent at this meet.”

The breaststroke event was one mentioned by the coaches before the meet as one they would be looking forward to. Overall the coaches were pleased with results. 

Freshman Emily Wiltsie (1:03.62) and senior Lindsey Frodyma (1:04.70) both finished with personal bests in the 100 breaststroke, placing them in 14th and 16th, respectively.

Diving coach Jeff Warrick was looking forward to watching his divers compete in the championship setting. 

“We definitely had some ups and downs,” Warrick said. 

The team was led by Sarah Nelson. Nelson scored a 271.65 on the 3-meter diver and 211.05 on the platform dive. Both are second-best career dives for Nelson.  

“She was pretty solid on all three levels,” Warrick said. “She just did a fantastic job.”

The team also saw a personal best out of Jessica Nicholson on the platform dive. Nicholson earned points for the Cyclones with a 14th place finish with a score of 194.15. 

ISU divers Jenn Botsch, Abby Christensen, Sarah Nelson and Lauren Naeve will be back in Austin, Texas on March 11-13, competing in the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships for one of 11 spots to the NCAA Championships.