ATLANTA, Ga. – Texas A&M junior Sarah Gibson shattered the school's 100-yard butterfly record twice on her way to finishing second in the race at the 2016 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatics Center.
Gibson, from Reagan High School in San Antonio, Texas, finished second in a school record time of 50.61 to Louisville's Kelsi Worrell, who broke her own NCAA, American and U.S. Open record with a winning time of 49.43. Earlier in the day, Gibson broke teammate Béryl Gastaldello's old school record of 50.87 with a time of 50.84 in the preliminaries. Gastaldello chipped in a 13th place finish in the 100 fly in 52.01.
"It was unbelievable to be able to have done that for the team," Gibson said of her school record swims. "To swim like that was amazing. The coaches had so much faith in me to let me swim butterfly when it really wasn't my event at all. I'm honored by their trust in me and I hope this is a small step toward paying them back for everything that I've been given.
"They saw something in me that even I couldn't and they knew with a little time and training they could coax that out. If you had told me that I would be second at the NCAA Championships in the 100 fly, even a year ago, I probably would have laughed you out of the building. I'm so proud to be a part of this team and this process and environment. If you want to swim fast, you come to Texas A&M…that's all there is to it."
The Aggies scored huge points in the 400 IM with the trio of freshman Sydney Pickrem, sophomore Bethany Galat and sophomore Lisa Bratton combining to score 41 points in the race. Pickrem led the way with a fourth-place effort in a season-best 4:04.26, Galat was fifth in 4:05.17 and Bratton was seventh in 4:07.93. The same trio of Aggies finished 1-2-3 in the 400 IM at the 2016 SEC Championships last month.
"When we went 1-2-3 at SECs we knew that was a big push toward our goal of winning the SECs," said Pickrem, who was the SEC 400 IM Champion. "So today when we all made the 'A' final, we were really excited and to all move up in places makes it even better.
"Being able to train with our IM group definitely helped me a lot," Pickrem continued. "We all excel in different ways in the IM, which is awesome because we help each other in different ways. We motivate each other every day and we know we're always there to push each other."
Freshman Claire Rasmus earned the first individual honorable mention All-America honors of her career with a 16th place finish in the 200 freestyle in 1:45.63. Earlier in the day, Rasmus posted a lifetime best time of 1:44.52 in the prelims, which made her the fifth Aggie ever under 1:45 in the 200 free.
The Aggies closed out the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 200 medley with the foursome of Gastaldello, Gibson, junior Sycerika McMahon and freshman Lexie Lupton reaching the wall in 1:36.27.
Texas A&M's big third day at the NCAA Championships pushed the Aggies up one spot to fourth in the team standings with 201.5 points. The Aggies trail only Georgia (285 points), California (267.5) and Stanford (265). Rounding out the top 10 teams in the standings were Virginia (196), Louisville (176), USC (156.5), Indiana (153), Missouri (106) and Arizona (106).
Gibson, from Reagan High School in San Antonio, Texas, finished second in a school record time of 50.61 to Louisville's Kelsi Worrell, who broke her own NCAA, American and U.S. Open record with a winning time of 49.43. Earlier in the day, Gibson broke teammate Béryl Gastaldello's old school record of 50.87 with a time of 50.84 in the preliminaries. Gastaldello chipped in a 13th place finish in the 100 fly in 52.01.
"It was unbelievable to be able to have done that for the team," Gibson said of her school record swims. "To swim like that was amazing. The coaches had so much faith in me to let me swim butterfly when it really wasn't my event at all. I'm honored by their trust in me and I hope this is a small step toward paying them back for everything that I've been given.
"They saw something in me that even I couldn't and they knew with a little time and training they could coax that out. If you had told me that I would be second at the NCAA Championships in the 100 fly, even a year ago, I probably would have laughed you out of the building. I'm so proud to be a part of this team and this process and environment. If you want to swim fast, you come to Texas A&M…that's all there is to it."
The Aggies scored huge points in the 400 IM with the trio of freshman Sydney Pickrem, sophomore Bethany Galat and sophomore Lisa Bratton combining to score 41 points in the race. Pickrem led the way with a fourth-place effort in a season-best 4:04.26, Galat was fifth in 4:05.17 and Bratton was seventh in 4:07.93. The same trio of Aggies finished 1-2-3 in the 400 IM at the 2016 SEC Championships last month.
"When we went 1-2-3 at SECs we knew that was a big push toward our goal of winning the SECs," said Pickrem, who was the SEC 400 IM Champion. "So today when we all made the 'A' final, we were really excited and to all move up in places makes it even better.
"Being able to train with our IM group definitely helped me a lot," Pickrem continued. "We all excel in different ways in the IM, which is awesome because we help each other in different ways. We motivate each other every day and we know we're always there to push each other."
Freshman Claire Rasmus earned the first individual honorable mention All-America honors of her career with a 16th place finish in the 200 freestyle in 1:45.63. Earlier in the day, Rasmus posted a lifetime best time of 1:44.52 in the prelims, which made her the fifth Aggie ever under 1:45 in the 200 free.
The Aggies closed out the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 200 medley with the foursome of Gastaldello, Gibson, junior Sycerika McMahon and freshman Lexie Lupton reaching the wall in 1:36.27.
Texas A&M's big third day at the NCAA Championships pushed the Aggies up one spot to fourth in the team standings with 201.5 points. The Aggies trail only Georgia (285 points), California (267.5) and Stanford (265). Rounding out the top 10 teams in the standings were Virginia (196), Louisville (176), USC (156.5), Indiana (153), Missouri (106) and Arizona (106).