Dec. 3, 2010
The No. 8-ranked Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team will take on Rice in its final fall season tuneup at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the outdoor Rice Aquatics Center in Houston.
Aggie head coach Steve Bultman said it was important for his team to get another competition under their belts before final exams and the holiday break.
“I didn't want to go from Nov. 20 until Jan. 7 without a meet of some sort, so I think it's good to get up and race,” Bultman said. “It's also an opportunity to swim in Rice's new outdoor pool, so we're looking forward to that. The weather is supposed to be nice enough so it should be a fun meet. It's good competition for us without us having to go to one of the big invitationals, which we didn't want to do right before exams. The focus right now is on the exams, but I think it's important to get some races in.”
The Aggies are coming off a very strong showing at the Georgia Tech Invitational on Nov. 18-20 in Atlanta. Two Aggies – junior Rita Medrano and freshman Sarah Henry – set school records with Medrano improving her own 200 fly record to 1:55.04 and Henry lopping four seconds off the old 400 IM record to 2:06.66. Freshman Cammile Adams also went under Medrano's old school record with a time of 1:55.50.
Henry's time was an NCAA “A” cut, which guarantees her of a spot in the 2011 NCAA Championships, which will be contested March 17-19 in Austin. Collectively, the Aggies posted over 80 NCAA “B” cuts over the three day competition at Georgia Tech. The Aggies also posted season-bests and “B” cuts in all five relays. Senior diver Jaele Patrick remained undefeated this season with wins on the springboard dives, while junior Janie Potvin won the platform competition. Henry and Patrick were named Big 12 Swimmer and Diver of the Week for their performances.
“It was a great meet for us,” Bultman said. “It's fun to see them swim that fast with just a little bit of extra rest. We've been doing it seven or eight years like that, and I think they get excited for it. We picked up a bunch of NCAA cuts and we know some of those are going to get picked up and there are some that are borderline, but that will help us decide who needs to rest and how much for the conference meet.”