October 19, 2007
The Big 12 champion Texas A&M women?â„¢s swimming & diving team won its third Big 12 Relays in four years with a second consecutive sweep of the swimming relays in Ames, Iowa, on Friday.
The Aggies set a new team record for points at the meet by outscoring the University of Texas 117-88. The old record of 115 came in last year?â„¢s first place finish in Lincoln, Neb.
?After sweeping all the races last year, I felt like we had chance to do it again,? A&M head coach Steve Bultman said. ?There were a handful of races where we had to come from behind to win but the girls came through each time and did a great job.?
A&M hit the pedal from the start and didn?â„¢t let up all day, winning 14 of the 16 relays by more than a full second. Despite the overwhelming number of victories, Texas did give A&M several tests during the day.
The 200 freestyle relay group of Alia Atkinson (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), Codie Hansen (Arlington), Sarah Woods (Birmingham, Ala.), and Triin Aljand (Tallinn, Estonia) raced past the Longhorns on Aljand?â„¢s impressive early season 22.74 anchor leg to earn the win in 1:34.71.
Ten-time All-American Christine Marshall (Newport News, Va.) went by Texas?â„¢ Alison Soelter on the final leg of the 150-yard fly relay to earn A&M the win in the 12th race of the day.
The 3 x 500 freestyle relay was also a tight battle. Big 12 Swimmer of the Year Kristen Heiss (Casper, Wyo.) clocked a 4:54.11 on the third and final leg to catch Texas senior Delia Huang. A&M topped Texas in the longest race of the day, 14:53.14 to 14:58.43.
World championship 200 IM finalist Julia Wilkinson (Stratford, Ont.) erased a 1.5 second deficit in the 4 x 100-yard IM relay with a blazing anchor leg of 57.02 to give A&M the win in 3:56.04. Wilkinson also came to the rescue in the 200-400-200 IM relay, getting the Aggies the lead on the breaststroke portion of her anchor leg and hitting the wall approximately a second-and-a-half ahead of Texas?â„¢ Alison Soelter.
A&M?â„¢s 400 freestyle relay group of Hansen, Melissa Hain (Kingwood), Wilkinson, and Marshall earned an NCAA consideration time of 3:23.92. Among those earning individual ?'B?â„¢ cut qualifying standards were Aljand, 100 fly, 55.08; Atkinson, 100 breast, 1:02.87, and Wilkinson, 100 back, 55.91.
?Overall, I was pleased,? Bultman said. ?We had some great swims for the first meet of the year. There are things we need to get better on but that?â„¢s why we swim these meets -- to see where we?â„¢re at and what we need to work on.?
The Aggies will face both host Iowa State and Missouri in dual meets at Beyer Pool on Saturday at 10 a.m. before returning home later in the day.