February 17, 2007
The Texas A&M women?â„¢s swimming & diving team captured its first-ever team conference championship with a one point win over eight-time defending champion Texas at the Student Rec Center Natatorium on Saturday night.
The Aggies hauled in all the post-meet swimming awards possible for the second straight season. Sophomore Christine Marshall (Newport News, Va.) was named Big 12 Swimmer of the Meet after victories in the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yard freestyle as well as a runner-up finish in the 200-yard butterfly.
Freshman Alia Atkinson (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) was named Newcomer of the Meet with a sweep of both the 100 and 200-yard breaststrokes. Atkinson unseated three-time conference champion Elizabeth Tinnon of Texas in the 100-yard event on Friday night while beating a talented Texas trio in an A&M school record of 2:10.89 on Saturday. Atkinson was the bronze medalist in the 50-yard freestyle on Thursday night as well.
Texas A&M head coach Steve Bultman was named Coach of the Meet. Bultman has earned at least a share of Big 12 Coach of the Meet honors five of the last six seasons.
?It?â„¢s taken us eight long years to get to this point, but boy does it sure feel good,? Bultman said. ?I can?â„¢t say enough about the toughness and resiliency of this team. Winning this meet was one of their main goals from day one this year and they went out and made it happen.?
The Aggies were behind five points entering the final event of the meet, the 400-yard freestyle relay. A win in the relay is worth 40 points while second place earns 34, which meant the entire meet was on the line in the final event. The group of sophomores Julia Wilkinson (Stratford, Ont.), Codie Hansen (Arlington), Triin Aljand (Tallinn, Estonia) and senior Rebecca Sturdy raced to a school record time of 3:16.05 which ranks No. 2 in the country.
A&M entered the final two events down 861-833, however the Aggies had four swimmers in the championship final of the 200-yard butterfly to Texas?â„¢ two. A&M managed to outscore Texas, 58-35 in that event to set the table for that record-setting relay. Marshall finished second in an A&M school record time of 1:58.71 while senior Meghan Nebera (Brentwood, Tenn.) ended her conference career with a third place finish in 2:00.14. Senior Whitney Thomson (Allen) grabbed fifth, placing three Aggies in the top five with her time of 2:02.86.
Sophomore Kristen Heiss (Casper, Wyo.) continued arguably the best meet of her career with her second individual win of the meet. Heiss led a 1-2-3 A&M finish in the 200-yard backstroke. Heiss finished in a lifetime-best, NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:55.95, the second fastest in A&M history. Wilkinson finished second in 1:56.53 while freshman Emily Neal (Plano) was third in a career-best ?'A?â„¢ cut time of 1:56.69.
Sophomore Triin Aljand won two events for the second straight Big 12 meet after capturing first in the 100-yard freestyle. Aljand darted out to the lead and held off Texas?â„¢ Connie Brown to set an A&M record of 49.15. Aljand?â„¢s record lasted about two hours until Wilkinson lowered the mark to 49.01 in leading off the trophy-clinching relay. Codie Hansen grabbed third place in the 100 free in a season-best time of 49.76 as well.
Other Aggies scoring in championship finals on the meet?â„¢s final day were Marissa Jasek (San Antonio), eighth, 100 free, 50.34; Jenni Stratton (Portland, Ore.), sixth, 1,650 freestyle, 16:32.53; Kasia Dulian (Raciborz, Poland), sixth, 200 breast, 2:17.23; and Erin Mahoney (Wichita, Kan.), eighth, 200 fly, 2:04.55.
Texas A&M?â„¢s last chance meet scheduled for Sunday has been cancelled. A number of the Aggies will compete at the USA Swimming Sectional Championships in College Station next weekend while the rest will begin preparation for the NCAA Championships which is scheduled of March 8-10 in Minneapolis, Minn.