October 12, 2006
The Texas A&M women?â„¢s swimming & diving team will begin its 2006-07 season at the Big 12 Relays at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb. on Friday at 8:30 a.m.
The Aggies are coming off their best season in school history. Last year, A&M equaled a school record NCAA Championship finish of 11th place, set way back in 1985, and finished 11th in the seasonal dual meet rankings as well. The Aggies also won more races (nine) at the Big 12 Championships than any other school for the first time ever on their way to collecting Big 12 Swimmer, Newcomer, and Co-Head Coach of the Meet honors.
Six of the eight swimmers that represented A&M at the NCAA Championships last year are back with five of them being just sophomores. Sophomores Triin Aljand (Tallinn, Estonia), Codie Hansen (Arlington), and Julia Wilkinson (Stratford, Ont.) all won individual Big 12 titles as freshmen and scored points in individual events at the NCAA Championships as well. Aljand did not lose a race at last year?â„¢s Big 12 Relays while Wilkinson will be competing in her first conference relay meet after sitting out the first month of last season due to injury.
A&M will be looking to continue its success in the freestyle relays from a year ago. The Aggies lost only two freestyle relays to any conference opponent all season long in 2006 (once at the Big 12 Relays and once at the NCAA Championships). A&M won the 200, 400, and 800 freestyle relays at the Big 12 Championships, setting a new conference record of 7:09.52 on the meet?â„¢s first day. All three of those relays went on to finish amongst the top six at the NCAA Championships.
In addition to its large and wildly successful sophomore class, A&M has added 10 new faces to the active roster this season. Freshman Alia Atkinson (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) brings more Olympic experience to the Aggies after having represented her birth country of Jamaica in Athens in 2004. Atkinson, who graduated from high school at age 16, will look to fill the role left behind by A&M breaststroke record holder Erin Briskie who completed her eligibility last season. Atkinson holds the Jamaican national records in every breaststroke event as well as the 50 freestyle.
The Aggies have also added a couple of Texas high school all stars in Melissa Hain (Kingwood) and Emily Neal (Plano). Both swimmers earned multiple individual medals at the Class 5A state championships as seniors in 2006. Neal, the reigning Dallas Morning News Swimmer of the Year, took silver in both the 100-yard backstroke (56.03) and 200 IM (2:02.66) at the state meet while Hain grabbed silver in the 100 free (51.43) and bronze in the 200 free (1:50.07).
The Aggies also gain senior transfer Whitney Thomson (Allen). Thomson transferred to Texas A&M from the University of New Mexico last season, but redshirted. Her impact on the team was so great, however, that she was named one of two team captains to this year?â„¢s squad. Joining Atkinson, Hain, Neal, and Thomson as new members of the active roster will be freshmen Rebekah Bleyl (Conroe), Leslie Dlugopolski (Mequon, Wis.), Ella Doerge (Clive, Iowa), Renee Iserman (Spring), Sarah Woods (Birmingham, Ala.) and diver Alex Tipple (Thunder Bay, Ont.).
The Aggies dropped a tight 108-99 decision to Texas at last year?â„¢s Big 12 Relays despite splitting the day?â„¢s swimming events with the Longhorns and winning all but one of the freestyle relays.
The first of two sessions at the Big 12 Relays will begin at 9 a.m. with the second starting following a break for lunch.