Women’s Swimming & Diving Finishes Sixth at SEC Championships

Tuesday, February 18

Auburn, Ala.

Texas A&M

SEC Championships

Photo by: Craig Bisacre/Texas A&M Athletics

Feb 22, 2020 | Women's Swimming and Diving

By: Texas A&M Athletics Communications

Final Results

AUBURN, Ala. – The Texas A&M women's swimming & diving team finished sixth at the 2020 SEC Championships at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center on Auburn's campus. The five-day event concluded Saturday with the Aggies totaling 851 points. Tennessee claimed the league title with 1,108 points.

"Obviously we would have liked to finish higher," women's head coach Steve Bultman said. "But we knew going in that it was going to be tough with the sickness and injuries we've had this year and just graduating some good swimmers. Regardless, I was proud. The girls stepped up and raced really well. We were sixth at one points and battled back to second for a while. Today, we would have liked to be better, but now we have to be ready and finish the year strong and start gearing up for next year."

Junior Joy Field got the finals started with an 11^th-place finish (16:22.09) in the 1650 Free. Senior Karling Hemstreet also added points for A&M in the event as she recorded a collegiate personal-best time of 16:34.24, good for 22^nd.

Junior Kara Eisenmann secured 13^th in the 200 Back with a time of 1:55.17 and senior Sara Metzsch took 22^nd (1:56.84) in the event. Senior Golf Sapianchai set a personal best in the 100 Free as she claimed the 19 spot with a time of 48.96, and classmate Raena Eldridge came in 23^rd (49.23).

The Aggies closed out the individual swimming events with three top-20 finishes in the 200 Breast. Sophomore Caroline Theil led the way as she placed 14^th with a time of 2:11.75. Senior Victoria Roubique finished atop the C Final and set a new personal best with a time of 2:10.99, while sophomore Kylie Powers rounded out the group in the 19 spot with a time of 2:12.09.

Freshman Alyssa Clairmont advanced to the final in the platform dive and earned a fourth-place finish with a score of 256.20 in her post season debut.

The 400 free relay concluded the SEC Championships as A&M placed ninth when senior Katie Portz, Eldridge, sophomore Emma Carlton and Sapianchai finished ninth with a time of 3:16.64.

"We have to see who we have qualified and who we still need to try and get qualified. The sectional meet is this next weekend, which is our last chance meet. We will definitely have some people compete in that, and we will see where we're at with the rest of the country. After that we can figure out what we need, who needs to swim what and prepare for this coming weekend."

A&M will return to the pool for the Speedo Sectionals Feb. 27-March 1, before heading to Athens, Georgia for NCAA Championships March 18-21. The diving team will be back in action March 9-11 at NCAA Zone D Championships in Dallas.