No. 8 Texas captured the 200-yard freestyle relay and collected a diving victory from junior Kathryn Kelly in the first two sessions of its tri-meet against No. 13 Michigan and No. 23 Indiana Friday evening at the Indiana’s Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center.  Texas trails Michigan after the opening two sessions and holds a 133-125 lead over the host Hoosiers with one session remaining on Saturday.

Texas opened the day with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay, as the quartet of junior Hee-Jin Chang, freshmen Brie Powers and Adrienne Woods and sophomore Alex Basso clocked a NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 1:33.27.

Chang (Seoul, Korea) opened in 23.47 before giving way to Powers (Kalamazoo, Mich.), who touched the wall in 23.13.  Woods (Dexter, Mich.) split 23.52 in the third leg, and Basso (Houston, Texas) anchored in 23.15. 

Kelly (Longwood, Fla.) led a one-two Texas finish in the one-meter diving event, as she was victorious with a score of 306.00.  Senior Mary Yarrison (Springfield, Va.) took second with a total of 302.00. 

Texas picked up valuable points from sophomore Susana Escobar (Queretaro, Mexico), who clocked second-place finishes in the 500 freestyle (4:51.79) and the 200 freestyle (1:50.83) while adding a third-place showing in the 400 IM (4:19.55).

Basso registered a NCAA provisional-qualifying mark in the 200 IM, where she placed third in 2:03.79.  Junior Alison Soelter (Ulysses, Kan.) took fourth in 2:05.90.  Texas added a second-place finish in the 800 freestyle relay, as Chang, Basso, sophomore Traci Van Matre (Spring, Texas) and Escobar finished in 7:27.32. 

“We had a good day of racing, and we are about where I expected we would be,” said second-year UT coach Kim Brackin.  “Susana (Escobar) is doing a nice job of leading and being a ‘go-to’ swimmer, and we had good team efforts in the relays.”

Texas begins the third and final session of its tri-meet with Indiana and Michigan on Saturday at 8 a.m. Central.