For the second-straight year, Texas (5-0) claimed a victory over Texas A&M. The Lady Longhorns topped the Aggies 166.5-128.5 - nearly identical to last year's 166-134 score.
"I'm really pleased with the way we swam today," said fifth-year UT head coach Carol Capitani. "I think it's a testament to how hard we are working right now. We're paying attention to little details, and for the most part, we're doing those little things right. We won some close races today, and that makes us really happy. It's a source of pride, and we did this one for the Longhorns fans. It's nice to be on the winning side of the coin."
Texas opened the meet with a convincing win in the 200-yard medley relay, as seniors Tasija Karosas, Madisyn Cox and Brynne Wong and junior Rebecca Millard took the victory at 1 minute, 39.02 seconds and outdistanced the Aggies by well over a second.
Sophomore Joanna Evans, who represented The Bahamas at the Rio Olympics, led from start-to-finish in the 1,000 freestyle and was victorious at 9:52.34. Cox led a one-two Texas finish atop the 200 freestyle and claimed the victory with a NCAA "B" cut of 1:45.96 while sophomore Nora McCullagh took second at 1:47.88.
Karosas paced a one-two Longhorns showing in the 100 backstroke, where she edged UT freshman Claire Adams at 53.70. Karosas' mark and Adams' time of 53.73 were good for NCAA provisional-qualifying cuts. Sophomore Olivia Anderson added an NCAA provisional cut and another win for the Longhorns with her mark of 1:01.38 in the 100 breaststroke.
Sophomore Remedy Rule led wire-to-wire in the 200 butterfly and notched the Horns' sixth consecutive win of the meet at 1:56.70, well under the NCAA "B" cut of 1:59.59. Millard edged A&M's Beryl Gastaldello by one one-hundredth of a second in the 50 freestyle and took the win at 22.63.
Freshman Alison Gibson opened the diving events with a winning mark of 348.90 points in the three-meter event. Sophomore Meghan O'Brien later completed a Texas sweep of the diving events with her winning mark of 306.60 on one-meter.
Millard returned after a short layoff following three-meter diving to sweep the sprint freestyle events and win the 100 freestyle at 49.35. McCullagh took second at 49.82 while sophomore Brooke Hansen placed third at 50.74.
The Aggies scored a tight win in the 200 backstroke, but Cox notched her second win of the day in the ensuing event and captured the 200 breaststroke at 2:11.04. Evans followed suit and posted her second victory of the afternoon, as she claimed the 500 freestyle at 4:46.86.
Cox put away her third win in as many events, as she cruised to victory in the 200 individual medley at 1:57.03. Texas wrapped the meet with a win in the 200 freestyle relay where Rule, Millard, Hansen and Adams were victorious in 1:31.57.
Texas closes the week Friday with a challenge from No. 4 N.C. State. The Texas men and women host the Wolfpack at 5 p.m. CT at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Texas A&M Press Release
The No. 14 Texas A&M women’s swimming and diving team dropped a 166.5-128.5 decision to No. 7 Texas on Thursday at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on the University of Texas campus.
The Aggies, who fell to 2-1 in dual meet action, tallied first- or second-place finishes in 15 of 16 events, but couldn’t catch the quick-starting Longhorns. The Longhorn victory evens the series at 2-2 since the rivalry was resumed in 2013-14.
“We swam really well, but they were better tonight,” Aggie head coach Steve Bultman said. “We’re not happy with the score but I’m very happy with the way we swam. We had a lot of season-best swims and I’m very encouraged by the way we raced for this point in the season. We have a lot of places we still need to get better, but we can only control what we’re doing and I’m happy with where we are in our training.”
Grabbing first-place finishes for the Aggies were juniors Lisa Bratton and Béryl Gastaldello, who touched first in the 200-yard backstroke and the 100 butterfly, respectively. Bratton reached the wall in 1:55.82, while Gastaldello finished in 53.70.
Texas A&M grabbed two of the top three spots in five individual races. Junior Bethany Galat was third in the 100 fly (54.55) behind Gastaldello, and she also led a 2-3 Aggie finish (2:00.56) with Bratton (2:00.93) in the 200 IM. Juniors Jorie Caneta (1:01.63) and Franko Jonker (1:01.68) placed second and third in the 100 breaststroke, Gastadello (22.64) and redshirt freshman Raena Eldridge (23.33) finished second and third in the 50 free and senior Ashley McGregor (2:12.97) led a 2-3-4 finish in the 200 breast with Jonker (2:14.22) and sophomore Sydney Pickrem (2:15.01) right behind.
Other Aggies grabbing runner-up finishes were senior Sycerika McMahon in 1,000 free (9:57.05), senior Sarah Gibson in the 200 fly (1:57.64) and the 500 free (4:48.64), and senior Madison Hudkins in the one-meter dive (300.90).
The Aggies were second in both relays with the foursome of Bratton, Caneta, Eldridge and sophomore Lexie Lupton reaching the wall in 1:40.69 in the 200 medley relay and the group of Gastaldello, Gibson, Lupton and Eldridge finishing in 1:32.16 in the 200 free relay.
The Aggies return to action on Saturday when the Texas A&M men’s and women’s teams host Florida in a 2 p.m. dual meet at the Student Recreation Natatorium on the Texas A&M campus.
