Three seniors and one freshman qualified with NCAA consideration times in the Big 12 tournament over the weekend as the ISU women’s swimming and diving team finished with a fifth place performance.

“I was very happy with the effort that we put forth,” head coach Duane Sorenson said. “We were shooting for fourth, and we came up a little short, but we beat Missouri and that’s the first time we’ve done that in a Big 12 tournament. They were ranked 23rd in the nation, so it feels good to beat a ranked team.”

Texas won the Big 12 tournament with Texas A&M in second, followed by Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa State and Missouri. Sorenson said the difference between his team and Nebraska’s was small.

“Basically, Nebraska has got a great group of distance swimmers,” Sorenson said. “Our team was disqualified in the 400-freestyle relay, and if we’d have gotten some points there, we’d have only been 11 points behind them.”

Iowa State was disqualified in the relay when a swimmer left the starting block a fraction of a second too early.

Of the four swimmers who achieved NCAA consideration times, Sorenson said he feels senior Sam Dyshaw has the best chance of being invited.

Also finishing the tournament with NCAA consideration times were seniors Petra Plaminkova and Lara Skoog and freshman Lauren Breunig.

“Lauren Breunig made NCAA considerations in all three events, and both Petra and Lara did very well,” Sorenson said.

Plaminkova broke her own school record in the 200 breaststroke during the tournament.

“Petra is just a tremendous practice swimmer, and then when she gets to the big meets, it really does show,” Sorenson said.

Skoog also broke school records for the tournament in the 1650 freestyle and the 1000 freestyle.

“We had a goal to go in and to break a number of school records,” Sorenson said.

Sorenson said he felt his seniors helped carry the team, not only in the Big 12 tournament, but all season long as well.

“Our seniors really stepped up and did a nice job,” Sorenson said. “[Lara] Skoog, Petra [Plaminkova] and Sam Dyshaw really helped. They trained all year, and it all paid off well for them.”