It happened in the dual meet with Nebraska and it happened again at the Big 12 Championships held last week in College Station, Texas.

Nebraska’s strong performances in a couple of events combined with the ISU swimming and diving team’s lack of points in the same events dropped the Cyclones from fifth place, where they had been most of the weekend, to sixth place.

The Cyclones finished last with 325 points behind the Cornhuskers’ 350.5 points.

The host Texas A&M Aggies won the championship by only one point against the Texas Longhorns.

Iowa State was outscored by Nebraska 61-2 in three different events, but cut some of that deficit when the Huskers were disqualified in the 400-medley relay and the Cyclones placed fourth.

The events at this year’s Big 12 Championships went very similar to last year’s.

The Cyclones set six school records and came close to setting several others. The records were set by two of their senior captains.

Lauren Breunig set records in her fourth-place finishes in the 100 and 200 freestyles and the 200 individual medley. Breunig qualified automatically for the NCAA Championships in the 200 individual medley and made the provisional cuts in the freestyle events, and was selected to compete in both.

Chelsey Walden set records in the 500 and 1650 freestyles, and her split at the 1000-meter mark in the 1650 was a record, as well. Walden placed eighth in the mile.

Swimming coach Duane Sorenson said both swam great meets in their last Big 12 Championships.

“Lauren [Breunig] just had an outstanding meet including an automatic qualifying invite time in the 200 IM,” Sorenson said. “Chelsey’s eighth-place finish in the 1650 freestyle was the highlight of the meet for her.”

The Cyclones’ highest finish in the diving events was sophomore Haley Haynes’s fourth-place finish in the platform diving competition.

Freshman Tien Tran also placed eighth on the three-meter springboard. The divers placed at least three competitors in the top 16 in all three events.

Diving coach Jeff Warrick said the divers did not quite end up where he wanted them to be.

“We kind of fell short of what I had in mind as far as team placing,” Warrick said. “We also had some very good performances, though. Tien Tran started us off by becoming one only three freshman in Iowa State history to make the finals.”