No. 5 Texas A&M women win eight of nine races vs. Notre Dame, Michigan State

Friday, October 13

South Bend, Ind.

4 p.m.

Texas A&M

Michigan State

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 13, 2017 | Women's Swimming and Diving

Friday results

By: Brad Marquardt

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team nearly posted a clean sweep of the day's events against host Notre Dame and Michigan State on Friday at the Rolfs Aquatic Center on the Notre Dame campus.

The Aggies won eight of nine events, including both relays, as they tallied a head-to-head win over Michigan State (98-62) and grabbed a commanding 121-46 day one lead over Notre Dame. The Aggies and Irish will conclude their two-day, 18-event dual meet on Saturday with the first race at 10 a.m.

For the day, the Aggies took down a trio of pool records and grabbed at least the top two spots in five events (200 IM, 100 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, three-meter dive and 400 medley relay). Texas A&M swimmers claimed pool records in the 100 freestyle, 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke.

"I was very pleased with the way we came out and competed in our first action of the year," Aggie head coach Steve Bultman said. "We won all of the day's events except for one and it was close, so I thought we raced hard and raced well."

The Aggies opened and closed the day with relay victories. The foursome of senior Beryl Gastaldello, senior Kristin Malone, sophomore Golf Sapianchai and junior McKenna DeBever touched first in the 200 free relay in a time of 1:30.65 to open the day, and then the Aggies grabbed top two spots in the 400 medley relay in the final race of the day. Senior Lisa Bratton, senior Jorie Caneta, Gastaldello and Malone finished first in a time of 3:36.87.

Leading the way with a pair of individual wins was senior Bethany Galat, who was victorious in the 200 IM in 1:59.00 and the 200 butterfly in a facility record 1:57.67.

Contributing individual victories were Caneta, Bratton, Gastaldello and freshman Kaja Skrzek. Caneta won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.81; Bratton won the 200 backstroke in pool record 1:55.13; Gastaldello touched first in the 100 free in pool record 48.68; and Skrzek was victorious in the three-meter dive with a score of 319.75 in her first collegiate action. Both Skrzek and teammate Alaïs Kalonji logged NCAA zone qualifying scores.