Jan. 26, 2011
Texas A&M freshman Breeja Larson earned the first Big 12 Swimmer of the Week award of her career on Wednesday after sweeping the breaststroke races in the Aggies' dual meet victory over LSU last Saturday.
Larson, from Mesa, Arizona, won the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes against the Tigers, and swam a strong leg on the Aggies' winning 400 medley relay. Larson turned in times of 1:00.80 in the 100 breast and 2:13.47 in the 200 breast to help lead the Aggies to a 168-120 win over LSU.
Larson already ranks No. 2 on both of A&M's breaststroke top 10 lists, behind only 2010 NCAA 200 breaststroke champion Alia Atkinson. Larson has season bests of 1:00.03 in the 100 breast and 2:11.38 in the 200 breast, both of which were achieved at the Georgia Tech Invitational last fall.
The Aggies' win over LSU marked the 100th dual meet victory of A&M head swim coach Steve Bultman's 12-year career in Aggieland. A 1970 graduate of LSU and former Tiger swimmer, Bultman was already the winningest coach in the history of the women's swimming and diving program. Bultman has also led the Aggies to eight top 25 NCAA finishes, including four consecutive top 10 finishes at the national meet.
The regular season is over for Bultman's defending Big 12 Champion Aggies with their next action coming at the 2011 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships Feb. 23-26 in Austin.