With the Big 12 Conference Championships just over two weeks away, the Kansas University swimming and diving squad finished off the regular season Saturday with a 183.5-109.5 beating of Iowa State in a two-day matchup at Robinson Natatorium.

The meet marked the last home appearance for senior swimmers Bri Brotherson, Emily Knopp, Lia Pogioli, Jenny Short, Lisa Tilson and Tricia Tindall, and senior diver Shelby Noonan.

Those seven seniors were the first recruiting class for Clark Campbell, who is in his fifth year as the KU coach.

“All seven of them have been something different. They’re all very unique, special, young women,” Campbell said of his seniors. “They came here not knowing anything of what was going on and they kind of set the bar now for the team. … It’s much different – in a more competitive way – than when they got here. So we’re making progress and they’re a huge, huge reason for it.”

Short had possibly the best meet of the group, claiming three first-place finishes – in the 200-yard medley relay, 200 freestyle relay and 100 backstroke – and coming in second in the 200 backstroke, finishing less than a second behind teammate Terri Schramka, who was also a member the 200 free relay team along with Maria Mayrovich and Tindall.

Knopp also claimed a first-place finish by beating out Tindall in the 200 butterfly by 1.1 seconds.

Noonan came up short of junior Jenny Roberts’ top mark of 252.75 in the one-meter dive, finishing with a score of 252.52. Roberts also got the best of Noonan in the three-meter dive Friday, beating Noonan’s 287.55 with her own 295.88.

“Things are coming together really well for us,” diving coach Eric Elliot said. “Finishing one-two-three (in the one-meter) was great for our confidence. We’ll be ready to go in a couple of weeks for Conference.”

The idea for the two-day meet – Friday night, then Saturday morning – was to get the athletes used to the mutli-day conference and NCAA championships.

“It really helps, because we’re used to swimming when we practice at 6 in the morning and then 3 in the afternoon, and that’s not the time of day when you have sessions at the meet,” said Jess Brozek, who had the top time in the 100 butterfly at 57.84. “So it really helps getting used to swimming at this time.”

Campbell added, “It’s a real easy buy-in because … it just really helps them get the feel for what it’s like to dual when all the chips are on the line here in a couple of weeks.”

Campbell said he has high hopes for his team at the conference meet despite the presence of powerhouse swimming programs Texas and Texas A&M.

“It’s going to be a real battle between Texas and Texas A&M for first and second, and I think out of that battle we can sneak in and hurt the team race,” said Campbell, whose squad finished fourth at the Big 12 Championship a year ago. “It’s always a real battle between us and Mizzou, and I think it’s going to shape up again. I don’t think we’re deep enough to win, but we could be anywhere from second to fourth.”