AUSTIN, Texas – It will be a battle of top 10 heavyweights when the No. 9 Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team takes on the No. 2 Texas Longhorns in dual meet action at 4 p.m. on Friday at Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on the University of Texas campus.
The Aggies have compiled a 3-0 dual meet record this fall with a road win over Southeastern Conference foe Arkansas and a double dual sweep of North Texas and Houston in Denton, Texas. The 5-0 Longhorns will be competing at home for the first time this season after finishing off a season-opening road swing that including wins over Stanford, Cal and Michigan in their home pools and Indiana and Louisville at neutral sites.
"If you can't get excited for this meet, you need a defibrillator to get your heart started," said Aggie head coach Steve Bultman. "These are two very good teams, and it's exciting. I'm glad we're back together facing each other. This is going to be a battle."
Admission is free and live results can be found at http://sidearmstats.com/texas/swim/index.htm.
LOOK AT LAST YEAR: The Aggies out-dueled the Horns, 152-148, in last year's meeting, which was the first between the two programs since A&M moved to the SEC. The back-and-forth affair saw multiple lead changes and came down to the final race of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay. With the Longhorns leading 144-139, the Aggies had to take first and third in the final relay to be victorious in the overall team race, and the foursome of Sammie Bosma, Meredith Oliver, Kelli Benjamin and Lili Ibanez got home in 3:20.57 to beat the Longhorn four by over a second. The foursome of Emily Neubert, Melanie McClure, Katherine Huff and Paige Miller secured the deciding points with a third-place finish in 3:26.87.
AGGIES IN THE NCAA TOP 25: The Aggies feature six swimmers that have posted 11 times ranking among the top 25 fastest in the NCAA so far this season.
50 freestyle: Sammie Bosma (No. 8, 22.72), Beryl Gastaldello (No. 14, 22.84)
100 freestyle: none
200 freestyle: none
500 freestyle: none
1,000 freestyle: Sarah Henry (No. 21, 9:55.96)
1,650 freestyle: Colleen Konetzke (No. 10, 16:52.81)
100 backstroke: Beryl Gastaldello (tNo. 25, 54.71)
200 backstroke: Lisa Bratton (No. 19, 1:57.92)
100 breaststroke: Sycerika McMahon (No. 16, 1:01.79)
200 breaststroke: Sycerika McMahon (No. 18, 2:14.39)
100 butterfly: none
200 butterfly: none
200 IM: Sarah Henry (No. 7, 2:00.61), Sycerika McMahon (No. 24, 2:02.83)
400 IM: Sarah Henry (No. 4, 4:13.11)
TOP 10 AGAIN: The College Swim Coaches Association of America announced its second Div. I Rankings of the season on Thursday with the Aggies dropping from No. 7 to No. 9 despite three dominant wins. Texas, which hadn't competed prior to the initial poll, debuted at No. 2 after their impressive road swing. The Aggies are one of seven SEC teams in the top 25, including top-ranked Georgia. The Longhorns are the only Big 12 team in the top 25.
CSCAA NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Ranking as of November 6, 2014
1. Georgia
2. Texas
3. Stanford
4. California
5. Southern California
6. Michigan
7. Auburn
8. Indiana
9. Texas A&M
10. Minnesota
11. Florida
12. North Carolina
13. Arizona
14. Tennessee
15. Ohio State
16. Southern Methodist
17. Louisiana State
18. Louisville
19 . Wisconsin
20. Penn State
21. UCLA
22. NC State
23. Alabama
24. Purdue
25. Boise State
Also receiving votes: Missouri, South Carolina, Florida Gulf Coast, Arkansas