Swimcloud

Big 12: Day Three Finals

By Eric Fehr

The Texas A&M women relied on their outstanding freshmen class to maintain an ever-so-slight lead over Texas heading into the final day of competition at the Big 12 Championships in Austin. In a back-and-forth affair that saw the lead change three times on the evening, the Aggies hold a slim seven point lead over the Longhorns. 

Texas claimed the opening  400 medley relay and three individual titles on the evening, and junior Karlee Bispo has yet to be beaten at the meet, after taking part on the relay and claiming the 200 free on Friday night. However, Texas A&M freshmen won two events and took three runner-up finishes as the Aggies used their overall depth to let them keep the overall advantage.

Meanwhile, the Longhorn men are well on their way to their 15th consecutive Big 12 title. Texas has yet to concede a race in the competition and holds a 173-point advantage over second place Texas A&M.
Individually, Texas’ Cole Cragin won two events on the night, while Jimmy Feigen tied his teammate in the 100 butterfly for his second individual title of the weekend.

Men’s 3-Meter Diving
Texas junior Drew Livingston won his third overall Big 12 championship with a final score of 527.10 on the 3-meter board. Livingston previously won the platform event in 2009 and the one-meter board in 2010. He easily outdistanced his closest rivals from Texas A&M, juniors Grant Nel (449.40) and Cam McClean (435.40).

Women’s 400 Medley Relay
After opening Thursday night’s session with the fastest time in the country in the 200 freestyle relay, Texas repeated the feat again on Friday in the 400 medley relay.  

Junior Karlee Bispo continued her dominance at this meet, overtaking Texas A&M’s Liliana Ibanez on the final leg, anchoring Texas to the victory in a time of 3:30.52. The Texas junior has thus far led the Longhorns to victories in the 200 and 800 free relays, and broke the meet record in the 200 IM last night. Texas A&M (3:31.04), who held the lead through the fly leg, finished with the third fastest time in the country. Missouri (3:35.59) was close behind, placing third in a time that would have qualified for the NCAA meet in 2010.

It was a tight race throughout with Texas A&M’s star freshmen, Paige Miller and Breeja Larson, teaming with sophomore Kendra Chernoff to pace the Aggies to a slight lead after the fly leg over Texas’s trio of freshman Lily Moldenhauer, and sophomores Laura Sogar and Kelsey Amundsen. This set up a dual between Bispo and Ibanez, the third Aggie freshman on the relay. Bispo took the lead on the first 50 splitting a 22.37, but Ibanez never let her pull away. Bispo eventually held her off and finished with a 47.23 split compared to Ibanez’s 47.89.

Men’s 400 Medley Relay

Sophomore Cole Cragin jumped out to an early lead as Texas dominated the 400 medley from start to finish in a time of 3:07.45. Texas’ team of Cragin, senior Olympian Scott Spann, and juniors Neil Caskey and Jimmy Feigen broke the previous meet record by .24, and recorded the second fastest time in the country entering this weekend’s competitions. 

The real race was for second with Texas A&M and Missouri battling it out. However, one night after Texas A&M disqualified their 200 freestyle relay, Missouri disqualified a relay of their own as their anchor, senior Jordan Hawley, left early on the final exchange. Missouri’s time of 3:10.87 would have placed them seventh in the country thus far, but it was Texas A&M’s team of John Ariens, Nathan Lavery, Amini Fonua, and Balazs Makany who now move into that spot with a time of 3:11.00. 

Women’s 1-Meter Diving

After placing second on the 3-meter board last night, Missouri’s freshman phenom, Loren Figueroa, won her first Big 12 Championship with a meet record score of 335.15 on the one-meter board. Figueroa is coming off a second place finish in the same event at the USA Senior Nationals two weeks ago, and her victory marks only the second Big 12 women’s diving title in Missouri history. Texas A&M junior Janie Potvin (317.05) took second for the second consecutive year, while last night’s champion on 3-meter, Texas sophomore Maren Taylor (314.80), placed third.

Women’s 400 IM

Texas A&M’s stellar freshman class continued to impress as Sarah Henry and Cammille Adams swapped the top spots from last night’s 500 freestyle, and along with junior Alyssa Conner (4:10.51), capped an Aggie 1-2-3 sweep of the 400 IM. Both Henry (4:05.48) and Adams (4:07.64) bested Kathleen Hersey’s meet record from 2009. Adams paced the field through the backstroke leg, but Henry exerted her dominance in the breaststroke splitting a 1:09.09. Once the distance duo touched 1-2 heading into the freestyle, there was no catching either of them. 

Senior Melanie Dodds (4:12.13) added a fifth place for A&M, while Kansas junior Stephanie Payne (4:11.94) managed to break up the Aggie quartet placing fourth. Last year`s champion, Texas` Leah Gingrich (4:14.04), placed sixth. The 1-2-3-5 finish for the Aggies allowed them to extend their lead over Texas to 46.5 points (460 – 413.5).

Men`s 400 IM

Texas sophomore Nick D`Innocenzo won his first ever Big 12 individual title taking the 400 IM in a time of 3:44.08. D`Innocenzo took the lead from his teammate, two-time defending champion and NCAA All-American Bryan Collins, with a 1:01.46 split in the breaststroke, and held off Collins on the freestyle. D`Innocenzo`s time ranks as the fourth fastest in the country, while Collins moves into sixth. Hayes Johnson (3:46.97), 200 IM champion Austin Surhoff (3:47.68), and Michael McBroom (3:52.91) capped a Texas sweep of the top five places.

Women`s 100 Butterfly

Kelsey Amundsen of Texas won her second individual title in as many nights, coming from behind on the last 25 to win the 100 fly. Her time of 52.54 bested Texas A&M`s duo of Paige Miller (52.84) and Kendra Chernoff (52.97). Amundsen had the lead at the 25 and 50 marks, but fell to fifth with one length remaining. She then split a quick 13.50 on the final 25 to pass Miller, Chernoff, teammate Jessica Guro (53.07), and Kansas’ Abigail Anderson.

Men`s 100 Butterfly

Cole Cragin had the underwater kick, Jimmy Feigen had the reach. Cragin looked to be in command after using his explosive kick to take the lead off the final turn of the 100 fly. But Feigen used his long wingspan to get even in the last five yards and tie Cragin for the title in identical times of 46.95. The victory is Feigen’s second of the weekend and fifth overall, while it is Cragin’s first ever Big 12 individual championship.
In a back and forth affair, Missouri senior Andres Melin had the lead at the 50, and along with Texas freshman Woody Joye, the top four swimmers were separated by only .21 heading into the final 25. Cragin, who was in fourth at the 75, made his move along with Feigen, leaving Joye (47.19) and Melin (47.53) in third and fourth respectively.

Women’s 200 Freestyle

The titles kept coming for Texas’ Karlee Bispo in the 200 free who seems to be staking her claim as outstanding swimmer of the meet. Bispo won the event for the third consecutive year, and swam with immense confidence taking the early lead and extending it on each successive split. Her time of 1:43.59 broke her own meet record from two seasons ago, and is the second fastest time in the country thus far.
 
Texas retook the lead (548 – 541) over Texas A&M in the team standings as senior Adrienne Woods (1:46.19) and junior Katie Riefenstahl (1:46.19) tied for second, and freshman Sam Tucker (1:46.77) placed fourth. 

Men’s 200 Freestyle

Dax Hill didn’t make Texas’s scoring team in 2010, but is taking no time to establish himself as one of the team’s top swimmers this year. The sophomore led wire to wire, taking the 200 free by almost two seconds in a time of 1:33.32. His time is an NCAA automatic time standard and currently ranks as the fourth fastest time in the country. 

Texas A&M senior Balazs Makany earned his second runner-up finish of the meet thus far by taking second in a time of 1:35.11, while Texas senior Scott Jostes took third with a 1:35.58.

Women`s 100 Breaststroke

Texas’ Laura Sogar and Texas A&M`s Breeja Larson staged a classic dual in the 100 breaststroke. Sogar pulled away on the final 25 to take her first Big 12 individual title. Her time of 58.83 broke the meet and conference records, and represents the second-fastest time in the country thus far. Larson`s time of 59.32 currently ranks her fourth. Both times are NCAA automatic tine standards.

Sogar and Larson were never separated by more than .02 at any point during the race. Larson used her superior pullouts to gain an advantage off each turn, while Sogar was able to out swim her once Larson surfaced. Sogar saved her best turn for last as she emerged even with Larson and pulled away to take the title. Texas 

A&M`s ‘other’ freshman breaststroker, Erica Dittmer, took third in 1:00.97, a time well under last season`s NCAA invite time of 1:01.20.

Heading into the final event of the evening, Texas increased their newly acquired lead over the Aggies, 593 – 574.

Men`s 100 Breaststroke

Texas senior Scott Spann was last year`s NCAA runner-up and the evening`s top seed. But his teammate, junior Eric Friedland, would not be denied in his bid to defend his conference title in the 100 breast. Friedland came back from fourth place at the 75 and took the win with a time of 53.82, just off his mark of 53.78 from December. Spann finished in second at 53.99, while Texas A&M`s duo of senior Nathan Lavery (54.08) and junior Amini Fonua (54.11) finished close behind.
It was Fonua who paced the field at each of the first three splits, but only .26 of a second came between the top four men entering the final length. Friedland used a strong underwater pullout to make up the deficit and held off the other three to the wall.

Women`s 100 Backstroke

Paige Miller became the third Aggie freshman to win an individual title as she took the 100 backstroke in a time of 52.65, just off the NCAA automatic time standard of 52.55. Texas sophomore Jessica Guro took second in 53.17, while Texas A&M sophomore Tess Simpson (53.22) and senior Lindsey King (53.24) took third and fourth.

With the 1-3-4 finish, Texas A&M moved back into the lead over Texas (635 – 628) setting up what should be an exciting final day showdown for the Big 12 team title. Missouri (433.5) is a solid third place, while Kansas (260.5), Nebraska (217), and Iowa State (109) round out the field.

Men’s 100 Backstroke

Texas’ Cole Cragin rode his superior underwater kick to his second Big 12 title of the night in the 100 back. His time of 46.67 was just off the 46.53 mark he posted earlier in the evening leading off the medley relay, but both efforts eclipse last year’s NCAA invite time of 46.95. Texas freshman Patrick Murphy took second in 47.24, while Aggie junior John Ariens moved up from lane 7 to take third.

Texas (727) leads the men’s team race, while Texas A&M (554) extended its lead over Missouri (468).

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