February 15, 2007
The Texas A&M women?â„¢s swimming & diving team bolted out to the team lead after a wave of impressive performances in the pool on day two of the Big 12 Championships being held in the Student Rec Center Natatorium.
The Aggies won every single swimming event on Thursday night, setting three of four possible school records. They didn?â„¢t stop there however as two Big 12 meet records went by the wayside as well. Thursday also marked the first time in A&M history that the Aggies won every swimming event in a single day at a conference championship.
A&M?â„¢s most impressive performance came in the evening?â„¢s final event, the 400-yard medley relay. The group of sophomore Julia Wilkinson (Stratford, Ont.), freshman Alia Atkinson (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), senior Rebecca Sturdy (Anacortes, Wash.) and sophomore Christine Marshall (Newport News, Va.) swam the nation?â„¢s second-fastest time, 3:35.12, to erase both the A&M and all-time Big 12 records. The former Big 12 mark was set by Hayley McGregory, Elizabeth Tinnon, Connie Brown, and Sarah Wanezek of the University of Texas in 2005 while the old A&M mark of 3:37.07 had been set by Courtney Patterson, Erin Briskie, Sturdy, and Danielle Townsend.
Sophomore Christine Marshall disposed of both the Big 12 meet and A&M records in a razor-thin win over sophomore teammate Julia Wilkinson in the 200-yard individual medley. Marshall?â„¢s time of 1:58.07 broke the old Big 12 meet record of 1:58.10 set by the Longhorns?â„¢ Joscelin Yeo in 2003. Both Marshall and Wilkinson (1:58.14) went under Wilkinson?â„¢s school record of 1:58.49 set on Nov. 17 at the Art Adamson Invitational in College Station. Marshall?â„¢s 200 IM win is the first individual conference title of her career.
Sophomore Kristen Heiss (Casper, Wyo.) also joined the individual conference title club with a steady yet dominant performance in the meet?â„¢s second longest event, the 500-yard freestyle. Heiss?â„¢ NCAA automatic qualifying time of 4:44.79 not only won the race but eclipsed the Aggie school record by more than a full second. Heiss took over the top spot on the all-time A&M 500 free list from sophomore teammate Codie Hansen (Arlington) who won the Big 12 title in 4:46.01 a year ago.
Sophomore Triin Aljand (Tallinn, Estonia) won her third career individual conference title by defending her 2006 championship in the 50-yard freestyle. Aljand, the 2006 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, led a 1-2-3 A&M sweep by hitting the wall first in an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 22.58. Senior Rebecca Sturdy also recorded an automatic qualifier of 22.77 in a second place finish while freshman Alia Atkinson was third in 22.94.
A&M exhibited the depth of its strongest team ever by placing five swimmers in the final of the 500 freestyle. Junior Jenni Stratton (Portland, Ore.) finished third, setting a new lifetime-best mark of 4:46.85 while junior co-captain Beth McCullough (Austin) did likewise in taking fifth in 4:47.77. Freshman Melissa Hain (Kingwood) and Codie Hansen also went under the 4:50 mark, finishing in 4:48.02 and 4:49.61 for sixth and seventh, respectively.
Other Aggies making championship finals were Marissa Jasek (San Antonio), 50 free, 23.46, 6th; and Erin Mahoney (Wichita, Kan.), 200 IM, 2:02.36, eighth.
The Aggies lead the University of Texas heading into day three, 316-288. Kansas is in third with 180 points, followed by Iowa State (135), Missouri (131) and Nebraska (114).
Day three of the Big 12 Championships will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday with swimming preliminaries. The women?â„¢s one-meter diving preliminary will start at 10:30 a.m. while the final will begin at 5 p.m. The men?â„¢s three-meter preliminary will start at 1:15 p.m. The main finals session will commence at 6 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for students.