Texas A&M women win four of six events on Art Adamson Day 1

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team won four of six events, posted a pair of NCAA automatic qualifying cuts and set a school record on the first day of the Art Adamson Invitational on Thursday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.
 
Highlights:

• Texas A&M tallied victories in the 200-yard IM and the 50-yard freestyle, as well as sweeping the 200 free and the 400 medley relays.
• Tallying NCAA "A" cuts and guaranteeing their spots at the 2018 NCAA Championships were senior Bryl Gastaldello in the 50 free and junior Sydney Pickrem in the 200 IM.
• Gastaldello broke her own school record in the 50 free.

 
Head coach Steve Bultman said:
"It was an outstanding first day for us. We're going against the nation's No. 1 team in Stanford and we just raced them and I was very happy with the way we competed We won both relays and they were both really tight. We had good swims from top to bottom. It was really a good night."


Notables:

• The Aggies opened the meet with a solid victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Texas A&M foursome of senior Bryl Gastaldello, sophomore Raena Eldridge, sophomore Golf Sapianchai and senior Kristin Malone overcame a small deficit at the halfway mark to edge Stanford, 1:28.37 to 1:28.52.
• Gastaldello shattered her own school record in the 50 freestyle with an NCAA "A" cut time of 21.69. Her old school record was 21.76 from the 2015 NCAA Championships. Eldridge took third in the race with an NCAA "B" cut time of 22.67. Other Aggies logging B cuts were junior Claire Rasmus (22.85), Malone (22.59) and Sapianchai (22.75)
• Texas A&M went 1-2 in the women's 200 IM with junior Sydney Pickrem taking the win with a NCAA "A" cut time of 1:53.38, which was just off her school record of 1:53.30 from last year's NCAA Championships. Senior Lisa Bratton was right behind in 1:55.20 to take second place. Senior Bethany Galat won the consolation final in 1:55.16. Other Aggies with B cuts were Malone (1:56.88), senior Esther Gonzalez (1:57.82), junior McKenna DeBever (1:58.21), freshman Anna Belousova (1:58.72), junior Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo (1:58.77), freshman Jing Quah (1:58.46) and freshman Camryn Toney (2:00.45).
• In the 500 free, Stanford sophomore Katie Ledecky stole the show with a pool record time of 4:27.84. Leading the way for the Aggies was junior Claire Rasmus, who took second in a lifetime best time of 4:37.30 that moved her to No. 3 on the Aggies' all-time top 10 list in the race. Other Aggies tallying NCAA "B" cuts were sophomore Katie Portz (4:41.47), freshman Audrey McMurry (4:44.77) and freshman Haley Yelle (4:47.69 in the finals, 4:45.08 in the prelims).
• The dive crew showed its impressive depth by grabbing places 3-6 in the three-meter dive. Junior Alaïs Kalonji was the Aggies' top finisher in third place with a score of 308.60 and she was followed freshman Kaja Skrzek (301.05), freshman Harper Walding (299.85) and freshman Charlye Campbell (289.65), which were all zone qualifying scores.
• The Aggies closed out the night with a victory in the 400 medley relay with the group of senior Lisa Bratton, senior Jorie Caneta, freshman Jing Quah and senior Bryl Gastaldello rallying past Stanford for the win. Entering the final leg of the relay, Stanford held a .24 of a second lead over the Aggies but Gastaldello reeled in the Cardinal's Katie Ledecky for the victory in 3:29.47 to 3:29.54.

 
Pool Records set today:
W 500 freestyle: 4:27.84, Katie Ledecky, Stanford (old record: ??, Allison Schmitt, Georgia)
 
About Art Adamson:
Art Adamson was one of the longest tenured coaches in Texas A&M athletics history, coaching the Aggies more than 35 years from 1934 to 1970. During his time at Texas A&M, Adamson coached All-Americans and Olympians, while leading the Aggies to multiple conference team championships. He was inducted in the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame in 1970, as well as the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame and the Texas Swimming Hall of Fame.