Dec. 23, 2008
VERACRUZ, Mexico - Texas A&M freshman swimmer Rita Medrano (Aguascalientes, Mexico) won three national titles and set two national records at the 2008 Mexican Short Course National Championships over the last five days.
Medrano smashed her old personal best of 2:13.22, set at this meet in 2006, in the 200-meter butterfly on Sunday evening. Medrano swam her way to a time of 2:11.43, beating the second place finisher by nearly six seconds.
Medrano also set a national record in the 100-meter butterfly, clocking a time of 1:01.06 on Friday evening. She bested the old mark of 1:01.35 set by Paola Espana at this meet in 2002.
The Aggie freshman got her week out to a fast start by winning the 400-meter individual medley on Thursday night. Medrano improved from 4:58.36 during the preliminary session to 4:52.74 in the championship final to cruise to her first victory of the meet.
Medrano also earned a second place finish in the 50-meter fly (28.09), and a fourth place finish in the 200-meter back (2:20.58; 2:20.26 in prelims). In addition, she swam fast enough in prelims to qualify for the championship final in the 400-meter freestyle (4:27.10) but scratched out of the race so as not to swim three individual championship races (400 free, 50 fly, 200 back) all in one evening on Saturday. On Monday, the final day of competition, Medrano finished ninth in the 800-meter freestyle in 9:10.49.