Pepperdine University
Chris Knorr Invitational
Stuebner Wins Chris Knorr Leadership Award
1/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swim/Dive
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - After enjoying a bit of down time to celebrate the holiday season, the Pepperdine women's swimming and diving team got its competition toes wet for the first time in 2015 with the Chris Knorr Invitational. Cailey Stuebner was the day's star, winning both the 200 backstroke and taking home the meet's Leadership Award.
Stuebner (Los Altos, Calif./Mountain View HS), a senior member of the Waves' squad, was voted by a panel of coaches as the 2015 female recipient of the Chris Knorr Leadership Award, named in memory of a member of the Cal Lutheran squad. The award exemplifies qualities of the late swimmer, including leadership in and out of the pool, work ethic, likeability and dedication. CLU student-athlete Jonathan Hall was the male winner.
Stuebner follows in the footsteps of Katie Giacobbe (Duluth, Ga./Greater Atlanta Christian School), who was the inaugural female recipient of the award in 2014.
Stuebner won the 200 backstroke today, but not without a little drama. The senior's flight back to Malibu today was more than three hours delayed. After missing the team bus, Stuebner had to scramble to make it from the airport to the pool in Thousand Oaks.
She made it, but with little time to spare. As soon as she arrived, she was told her race was already in the pool, waiting for her to start. With no chance to warm up, Stuebner strapped on her cap and goggles and jumped into the pool with a smile, opting to make the most of her race and day, rather than stress over the adversity of the unplanned bumps in the road.
Stuebner came away with her first collegiate race victory, topping the field with a season-best time of 2:25.94.
Pepperdine won five additional races. Laura Graziano (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic HS) won the 100 freestyle, clocking a 57.68.
Jessica Mosbaugh (Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Alamitos HS) had another impressive meet, winning both the 100 breaststroke and the 100 butterfly. Her breaststroke time of 1:04.34 goes down as the fourth-best time in program history. Mosbaugh holds the Pepperdine record in the event with a mark of 1:03.42.
The Waves also emerged as winners of the 400 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay.
Kathrine Kuhlmann (Liberty, Mo./Liberty HS), after sitting out the fall portion of the season, made her 2014-15 debut today with solid performances both individually and in the relays. She placed second in the 200 freestyle behind a time of 2:05.11, while taking eighth in the 100 butterfly with a mark of 1:05.31.
She raced legs in both relay events.
Despite missing yesterday's 1650 freestyle race, and only competing with 11 student-athletes today, the Waves placed second in the field with 434 points. UC Santa Cruz won the Chris Knorr Invitational. Pepperdine placed ahead of Cal Lutheran and Pacific Lutheran.
The Waves keep the year moving with the Beach Cup, hosted by Fresno State, on January 16-17.
