Feb. 26, 2010
The No. 7 Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team will enter the final day of the 2010 Big 12 Championships with a 44-point lead over the No. 3 Texas Longhorns.
After three days of action, A&M leads with 662 points, followed by Texas (618), Missouri (330), Kansas (285), Iowa State (230) and Nebraska (159).
   The Aggies got off to another quick start thanks to the diving crew. For the second straight day, A&M took the top two spots in the diving event of the night with junior Emily Watson placing seventh with 288.35 and sophomore Lorena Lujan taking 12th with 272.55.
   The Aggies also received victories from a pair of veterans in seniors Alia Atkinson and Julia Wilkinson. Atkinson dominated with a win in the 100 breaststroke in a season-best 59.80, while Wilkinson won the 100 backstroke in a season-best 52.77. It was the seventh career individual title of Wilkinson's career and the 18th overall with both totals ranking No. 2 in Big 12 history.
   Atkinson was the lone A&M finisher in the breastroke, but Wilkinson led a 1-3-4 finish in the backstroke with freshman Emily Neal went stroke for stroke with Texas' Leah Gingrich, but couldn't pull off the upset with a runner-up finish in a school record time of 4:10.95 (old record of 4:11.02 by Melissa Hain, 2008). Hain was third in 4:11.42, junior Casey Hurrell-Zitelman took eighth in 4:16.45.
   The Aggies placed three swimmers in the top six of the 100 butterfly with sophomore Ella Doerge taking sixth in 54.37.
   Senior Kristen Heiss picked up a runner-up finish in the 200 freestyle in a season-best 1:45.37. Freshman Maureen McLaine grabbed sixth place with a season-best 1:47.95 and freshman Liz Nelson took 10th in a season-best 1:49.78.
   The Aggie foursome of Wilkinson, Atkinson, Medrano and senior Sarah Woods placed second in the 400 medley relay in 3:33.91.