Feb. 7, 2009
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The eighth-ranked Texas A&M women's swimming & diving team closed out its 2008-09 dual meet season with a 170-121 win at Florida State and a 170.5-126.5 loss to No. 6 Auburn at the Bobby E. Leach Center Pool on Saturday afternoon.
The Aggies (9-2) won five of the 16 events in the three-team meet, including both breaststrokes and both diving events. A&M's win over Florida State earned them their sixth-straight nine-win season.
"I was real pleased with the way they stepped up and raced," A&M head coach Steve Bultman said. "We have a few that are under the weather which definitely affected them and affected us as a team. I was pleased they got after it and raced hard in spite of that."
Sophomore Jaele Patrick (Lilydale, Victoria, Australia) snatched her second A&M school record in less than a month, crushing the entire one-meter springboard field by nearly 50 points. Patrick set a new school record of 320.25, erasing the nine-year-old mark of 311.32 set by four-time All-American Danielle Guarneri. Patrick earned a sweep of both boards, thanks to a 323.05 effort on the three-meter. The mid-year addition now owns the Texas A&M school record in both springboard diving events.
Olympian Alia Atkinson (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) continued to remain unbeaten in the breaststrokes with a fine outing against the Seminoles and Tigers. Atkinson captured the 100-yard breaststroke by more than a second in 1:01.70 while earning a two-plus second victory in the 200 breast (2:13.76).
Senior Olympian Triin Aljand (Tallinn, Estonia) kept an unbeaten streak going her self, albeit in the 50-yard freestyle. Aljand clocked a time of 23.10 for the top spot in the 50 free and later took second in the 100 fly (54.35).
A&M also initially earned a victory in the meet's opening event, the 200-yard medley relay, but was disqualified for an early takeoff.
In addition to the Aggies' five wins and one near victory, the team garnered seven second-place finishes against Auburn and Florida State. Aljand, senior Codie Hansen (Arlington; 200 free, 1:49.51, and 500 free, 4:53.26), sophomore Casey Hurrell-Zitelman (San Antonio; 1,000 free, 10:05.45), senior Christine Marshall (Newport News, Va.; 100 free, 51.65), freshman Rita Medrano (Aguascalientes, Mexico; 200 fly, 2:01.55), and the Aggie 200 freestyle relay team (1:32.79) all earned second place finishes in the meet as well.
With the dual meet season now complete, A&M will spend the next three weeks preparing to defend its back-to-back Big 12 championships in Columbia, Mo., on Feb. 25-28.