Nov. 20, 2009
The No. 8 Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team took the first day lead with a dominating performance at the Cougar Classic Fall Invitational on Friday at the University of Houston's Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.
The Aggies won five of six possible events and scored an impressive 464 points as they jumped out to a commanding lead in the team standings. The closest challengers behind the Aggies were SMU (221), LSU (183) and the host Cougars (144).
Perhaps even more importantly was the way the Aggies raced as they piled up a whopping 17 NCAA qualifiers in the evening session alone and more in the morning prelims.
"It was a very good day, both in the prelims and the finals," Aggie head coach Steve Bultman said. "We picked up some qualifiers today that will likely get to the NCAA meet, and quite a few other lifetime bests. They came ready to compete and took care of business."
Leading the way was senior Kristen Heiss, who logged the Aggies' lone NCAA "A" cut with an impressive Big 12 and school-record effort of 4:38.24 in the 500-yard freestyle. Heiss broke her own school record of 4:40.03 in the race, which she set at the 2008 NCAA Championships.
"That was a very good swim by Kristen, and I was really excited to see that from her," Bultman said. "She was strong the whole way, but she was even stronger in the second half of the race."
Heiss spearheaded a 1-2-3-4-5-6 finish by the Aggies in the race with four other A&M swimmers earning "B" cuts. Freshman Maureen McLaine was second in 4:43.11, freshman Liz Nelson was third in 4:50.12, sophomore Alyssa Conner was fourth in 4:50.91, freshman Kristina Kontrimas was fifth in 4:51.78 and junior Hannah Kinder was sixth in 4:53.98.
The Aggies also tallied five NCAA "B" cuts in the 200 IM with senior Julia Wilkinson grabbing the gold medal with a time of 1:56.69. Trailing Wilkinson on their way to NCAA qualifiers were senior Alia Atkinson (3rd, 1:59.75), senior Melissa Hain (4th, 4th, 2:00.45), junior Emily Neal (7th, 2:01.90).
A&M placed 1-2-3 in the 50-yard freestyle and piled up three more NCAA "B" cuts. Junior Sarah Woods grabbing third in 22.88.
The Aggies won both relays of the day in NCAA "B" cut fashion with the foursome of Sommer, Woods, Atkinson and Wilkinson hitting the wall with a time of 1:29.69 in the 200 freestyle relay, and the quartet of Wilkinson, Atkinson, freshman Kendra Chernoff and Woods touching in 3:36.09 in the 400 medley relay.
Junior Jaele Patrick took second on the three-meter springboard and improved her NCAA Zone D qualifier score with a season-best 314.30 total. Redshirt freshman Janie Potvin just missed a Zone qualifier with a season-best 275.60 score as she placed sixth.