The Washington State swimming team will face a new task as they travel to Lincoln, Nebraska to face the Cornhuskers this weekend. The Cougars (4-3, 2-3 IN Pac-12) will compete in back-to-back dual meets this Friday and Saturday against the Cornhuskers (4-5, 0-3 Big-10) for the first matchup between the two schools in program history.

Junior Loree Olson said although the two teams have never competed against each other, the matchup will be a great one to watch.

“It’ll be a good match,” Olson said. “We’re both good teams, so it’ll come down to who will swim the fastest within the moment.”

WSU junior Presley Wetterstrom, who holds an NCAA top-100 time in the 200-meter breaststroke event this season, said the team’s mindset while competing on the road doesn’t change.

“Usually teams swim better at home, so we know we need to step up when we compete on the road,” Wetterstrom said. “Our team is very good at stepping up and swimming fast.”  

WSU Head Coach Tom Jager will compete against a familiar foe in Nebraska Head Coach Pablo Morales. Jager and Morales raced against each other in college when Jager swam at UCLA and Morales swam at Stanford.

Jager and Morales would later become allies when the two represented the US National Team at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

“It was an honor to swim with him,” Jager said. “He’s a great human being, an Olympian that is working in the business, and he is giving back to the sport of swimming in a big way.”    

While Nebraska is winless in the Big-10, they have had great success in their home pool this season. The Cornhuskers have won two of their last three home meets, including an impressive 159-79 victory over Northern Iowa, Dec. 12, 2014.

The Cornhuskers are led by junior Taryn Collura, who holds top times for the team in the 50, 100 and 200-meter freestyle events this season.

Collura also qualified for the NCAA Championships in 2013 and holds 32 top-five finishes during her career at Nebraska, according to the team’s website.

In long-distance competition, the Cornhuskers are led by sophomore Katt Sickle, who was sidelined for the entire 2013-14 season with an undisclosed injury. Sickle has bounced back in a big way this season, and holds top times in the 500, 1000, and 1650-meter freestyle events for Nebraska.

For the Cornhuskers, the Cougars will be the final test before the postseason. After the dual meets against WSU this weekend, Nebraska will take a three-week break from competition before swimming at the Big-10 championships, Feb. 18-21 in Columbus, Ohio.

The Cougars have eclipsed the .500 mark for the first time this season after winning their last four dual meets. The team also finished in third place in the Hawkeye Invitational last month, the best performance for the Cougars in Iowa City in program history.

Nebraska and WSU will get started in the pool at 3 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday.