It didn’t take much for Kansas University’s swim team to defeat Houston, but the Jayhawks gave everything they had against Harvard and still came up short on the second day of a two-day triple dual meet at Robinson Natatorium.

KU crushed Houston, 267-83, but couldn’t handle a rested Harvard squad, falling, 194.5-157.5, despite trailing by only seven after Friday’s competition.

KU coach Clark Campbell said both the Jayhawks and Crimson were on the verge of entering the nation’s top-25 rankings heading into this meet.

“We got up against a team that was more prepared to swim fast,” Campbell said. “But it’s a real credit to our team that Harvard chose to swim us as their big meet.”

Harvard came to Lawrence to conclude its fall season against strong competition, much like KU treated the Nike Cup on Nov. 20 in Chapel Hill, N.C. Harvard beat Houston in the third dual, 287-63.

“We’re not ready to pull off two days of competition after just coming off the Nike Cup,” Campbell said.

Campbell said he was pleased with how his team performed overall, especially Amy Gruber. The senior standout continued her outstanding season by picking up a victory in the 400 yard medley relay to start the meet, then added victories in the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle — a race in which she set a pool-record time of 50.90 seconds.

“She’s so far ahead of where she was last year,” Campbell said. “I think she’ll be one of the best stories of the NCAA Championships.”

Gruber already had qualified for the NCAA meet in the 100 freestyle, and it showed Saturday as no competitors could draw close to her in individual races. She even erased a substantial Harvard lead in the 200 freestyle relay as the third leg, but KU came up short of the victory.

Kansas University junior swimmer Emily Rusch swims the 400 individual medley. The Jayhawks beat Houston, but lost to Harvard after Saturday's second day of an event at Robinson Natatorium.

For Gruber, Saturday was just another check mark on the calendar on her way to the NCAA Championships.

“We’re halfway, so now I’m just going to work on building back a base so when we do taper and rest, it’ll be better and faster than before,” Gruber said.

Another Jayhawks who stood out Saturday included junior Gina Gnatzig, who battled Harvard standout Noelle Bassi in the 500 freestyle only to come up just more than two seconds short in what Campbell said was the team’s swim of the day. Bassi left town setting three pool records.

Competition is finished for KU in 2004, and the Jayhawks will travel to the Bahamas to train during parts of winter break before resuming competition Jan. 15 against Nebraska.