COLUMBIA, Mo. – Texas A&M sophomore Lisa Bratton keyed the Aggies' big second jump in the team standings with a victory in the 200-yard IM on Wednesday at the 2016 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships at the Mizzou Aquatic Center.
Bratton led a points parade in the 200 IM as the Aggies scored a whopping 121 total points as they vaulted to third on the team leaderboard. The Aggies have a two-day total of 412.5 points and are chasing Tennesee (437.5) and Georgia (430) as they head into day three action on Thursday.
Bratton, from Richland, Wash., entered the day best known as the school's record-holder in the 200-yard backstroke, but finished the day as the SEC 200 IM Champion after leading from start to finish with a time of 1:54.97. Bratton joins 23-time All-American Julia Wilkinson as the only Aggies under 1:55. Bratton's time was a NCAA "A" cut, which guarantees her of a spot at the NCAA Championships, and it set the Mizzou Aquatic Center pool record.
"I had a great swim this morning and I felt really good, so I thought if I could go a little faster in the final that I'd have a good shot of winning it," Bratton said. "I knew I had to be way ahead going into the breaststroke because I'm not a great breaststroker! When I turned after the breaststroke and saw I still had the lead I was like "I got this." And I just powered home."
Bratton headed a host of maroon and white company in the Championship final with sophomore Bethany Galat taking runner-up honors in 1:55.86, freshman Sydney Pickrem placing fifth in 1:56.37 and sophomore Kristin Malone finishing sixth in 1:56.45. Senior Meredith Oliver chipped in a 15th place finish with a time of 1:58.43.
On having so many teammates in the final, Bratton said: "It was awesome! I was really hoping we'd go 1-2-3 but I'll take 1-2 any day! It was great to stand up on the award stand with Bethany. She had a great swim. It was awesome. It was just so much fun (to have three teammates in the final). We train with each other all the time so we know how each other swims and we just went out there and raced each other. It was a lot of fun."
In other action, senior Sarah Gibson earned second-team All-SEC honors with a third-place finish in the 500 freestyle in a time of 4:39.61. Also contributing points in the race were junior Sycerika McMahon (13th, 4:44.78) and senior Colleen Konetzke (15th, 4:45.59).
Sophomore Beryl Gastaldello was fifth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.09, while freshman Lexie Lupton was 11th in a season-best 22.47 and senior Claire Brandt was 15th in 22.66.
The Aggies closed out the night with another trip to the award stand as the foursome of Lupton, Malone, Brandt and Gastaldello placed third in the 200-yard freestyle relay in a season-best time of 1:29.07.
Bratton led a points parade in the 200 IM as the Aggies scored a whopping 121 total points as they vaulted to third on the team leaderboard. The Aggies have a two-day total of 412.5 points and are chasing Tennesee (437.5) and Georgia (430) as they head into day three action on Thursday.
Bratton, from Richland, Wash., entered the day best known as the school's record-holder in the 200-yard backstroke, but finished the day as the SEC 200 IM Champion after leading from start to finish with a time of 1:54.97. Bratton joins 23-time All-American Julia Wilkinson as the only Aggies under 1:55. Bratton's time was a NCAA "A" cut, which guarantees her of a spot at the NCAA Championships, and it set the Mizzou Aquatic Center pool record.
"I had a great swim this morning and I felt really good, so I thought if I could go a little faster in the final that I'd have a good shot of winning it," Bratton said. "I knew I had to be way ahead going into the breaststroke because I'm not a great breaststroker! When I turned after the breaststroke and saw I still had the lead I was like "I got this." And I just powered home."
Bratton headed a host of maroon and white company in the Championship final with sophomore Bethany Galat taking runner-up honors in 1:55.86, freshman Sydney Pickrem placing fifth in 1:56.37 and sophomore Kristin Malone finishing sixth in 1:56.45. Senior Meredith Oliver chipped in a 15th place finish with a time of 1:58.43.
On having so many teammates in the final, Bratton said: "It was awesome! I was really hoping we'd go 1-2-3 but I'll take 1-2 any day! It was great to stand up on the award stand with Bethany. She had a great swim. It was awesome. It was just so much fun (to have three teammates in the final). We train with each other all the time so we know how each other swims and we just went out there and raced each other. It was a lot of fun."
In other action, senior Sarah Gibson earned second-team All-SEC honors with a third-place finish in the 500 freestyle in a time of 4:39.61. Also contributing points in the race were junior Sycerika McMahon (13th, 4:44.78) and senior Colleen Konetzke (15th, 4:45.59).
Sophomore Beryl Gastaldello was fifth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.09, while freshman Lexie Lupton was 11th in a season-best 22.47 and senior Claire Brandt was 15th in 22.66.
The Aggies closed out the night with another trip to the award stand as the foursome of Lupton, Malone, Brandt and Gastaldello placed third in the 200-yard freestyle relay in a season-best time of 1:29.07.