Feb. 25, 2010
The No. 7 Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team won four of five events to take a 72-point lead over No. 3 Texas after the second day of the 2010 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday.
The Aggies and Longhorns were tied with 74 points coming into Thursday, but the Aggies sprinted to victories in the first four races of the day. After two days of action, A&M leads with 357 points, followed by Texas (285), Missouri (167), Kansas (149), Iowa State (113) and Nebraska (93).
The Aggies opened the meet with an impressive victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The foursome of junior Alia Atkinson, senior Sarah Woods and senior Julia Wilkinson touched in 1:29.31 to edge out the Longhorn four (1:29.45). The Aggies trailed after the first 100 yards by .39 of a second, but Woods turned in a third-leg split of 22.20 and Wilkinson went 22.00 on the anchor for the win.
The Aggies kept rolling with a pair of 1-2 finishes in the next two events – the one-meter springboard and the 500-yard freestyle relay.
In their Big 12 Championships debuts, junior Jaele Patrick grabbed gold in the one-meter board with a score of 317.25 and redshirt freshman Janie Potvin placed second with a score of 292.70. The Aggie dive crew had three divers in the Championship final and a total of five that combined to score 60 points.
Senior Kristen Heiss, the Big 12 record holder in the 500 free, took command of the race and finished in a time of 4:40.90. Her freshman teammate Maureen McLaine edged out defending champion Leah Gingrich of Texas for second, 4:42.95 to 4:43.31. Freshman Liz Nelson placed sixth in a season-best time of 4:48.04 (“B” cut). A&M was even impressive in the bonus final with non-scoring team members Hannah Kinder (4:44.42), Alyssa Conner (4:47.28) and Kristina Kontrimas (4:51.37) posting “B” cuts.
The Aggies scored huge points in the 200 IM with Wilkinson hitting the wall first for the third time this meet. With five of the eight slots in the Championship final belonging to the Aggies, A&M scored a whopping 92 points in the race. Wilkinson was first in an NCAA “A” cut time of 1:55.81, and Atkinson, junior Melissa Hain went 3-4-5-7. Including the consolation final and the bonus final, the Aggies had eight swimmers post NCAA qualifying times (one A cut, seven B cuts).
A&M closed the meet with a strong effort in the 50 free with Woods placing second in 22.61 and Sommer touching in third in 22.74, both “B” cuts. Senior Ella Doerge tied for first in the consolation final in a time of 23.21.