No. 11 Aggies Claim Top Finish at Art Adamson Invite

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 11 Texas A&M women's swimming & diving team delivered on a successful week with multiple top times and a first-place finish at the 11th annual Art Adamson Invitational with a total score of 1,124.5. 

Aviv Barzelay began the night with a 1:54.61 in the 200 back for her fastest time of the season and second-place finish. Chloe Stepanek continued her tear with a win in the 100 free, clocking in at 48.03, her top time of the season. 

Giulia Goerigk and Desirae Mangaoang each notched B cut times in the 200 breast. Goerigk finished third with her career-best time of 2:12.48 and Mangaoang took fourth with a season-best 2:13.49. Additionally, Joelle Reddin reduced her best time of the season to 2:12.80 in the A final. 

The duo of Olivia Theall and Katie Walker filled two of the top three spots in the 200 fly. Theall touched the wall first at 1:55.15 for her season best and Walker placed third with a time of 1:55.47, also a season best. 

The Aggies secured the top three spots in the 1650 free. Hayden Miller led the charge with the fastest time of the evening at 16:08.79. Abby Grottle followed up shortly after with her career-best time of 16:10.55 and Rachel Love finished third at 16:18.82. All three swimmers notched NCAA B cuts. 

On the diving end, freshman Chloe McKnight led the team in platform scoring with a 237.90 and placed fifth. 

The 400 free relay squad of Theall, Stepanek, Jordan Buechler and Bobbi Kennett closed the invite with a B-cut time of 3:15.92, putting up a tough fight for second place.  

POST MEET QUOTES
Head coach Steve Bultman on the meet ... 
"Those were some really good swims, we are very pleased. We need to sit down and figure out who exactly is qualified for NCAAs, but we certainly have a good start to a good group going. We have one A cut and two B cuts in our relays and we are within hundredths of the other two relay B cuts, so we think at SECs we'll have a good shot to pick those up. We just had some fun swimming this week, a bunch of lifetime bests and I like where we are at this point. 

"This meet has been good for our confidence. I think the girls are pretty excited, pretty spirited, about what we just did and what we were able to accomplish this week. I think they are seeing themselves and some of their teammates do some lifetime best times and get qualified for NCAAs. We picked up a couple more Olympic Trials qualifiers, so it's been an exciting and confidence-building week." 

UP NEXT
The Maroon & White return to the road to face the Rice Owls Tuesday, Nov. 28 at the Rice Competition Pool at 2:30 p.m. 

Visit 12thman.com for more information on Texas A&M women's swimming & diving. Fans can keep up to date with the Aggies Facebook, Instagram, and on Twitter/X by following @AggieSwimDive.