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Texas On a Roll During Night 1 of Big 12 Champs

No. 2 Texas toppled school and Big 12 records in the 200-yard medley relay and added a win in the 800 freestyle relay to complete a sweep of night one at the 2017 Big 12 Championships.
 
Texas kicked off the four-day championship with its impressive swim in the 200 medley relay, where seniors Tasija Karosas and Madisyn Cox, sophomore Remedy Rule and junior Rebecca Millard clocked 1 minute, 35.39 seconds for the win, well under the previous conference mark of 1:36.02 set by Texas A&M in 2012.
 
The swim eclipsed the school mark of 1:36.32 set by Karosas, Jordan Surhoff, Mimi Schneider and Millard at the 2016 Big 12 Championships.
 
The Horns capped the evening by taking the 800 freestyle relay, where Cox, sophomore Joanna Evans, freshman Claire Adams and Karosas finished in 7:00.70, good for the sixth-fastest relay in school history. 
 
Texas leads the championships with 80 points while Kansas follows in second with 68 points. Iowa State holds third with 64 points while TCU and West Virginia sit in fourth with 58 points. 
 
Day two of the Big 12 Championships begins Thursday at 10 a.m. CT.

A sweep of the three finals events plus school and Big 12 records from All-America senior Will Licon highlighted day one for the third-ranked Longhorns Wednesday at the 2017 Big 12 Championships. 
 
Texas opened the championships by winning the 200-yard medley relay, as sophomore John Shebat, Licon and juniors Joseph Schooling and Brett Ringgold took the win at 1:24.23, which tied the meet record set by Hill Taylor, Agustin Magruder, Ricky Berens and Jimmy Feigen in 2009.  Shebat led off on backstroke in 21.20 before Licon split 23.70 on breaststroke. Schooling, the Olympic gold medalist in the 100m butterfly, split 20.31 on the butterfly leg before Ringgold anchored in 19.02. 
 
Senior Mark Anderson won his sixth Big 12 diving title overall and his first on one-meter, as he claimed the event with room to spare at 398.20 points. Freshman Jacob Cornish took third at 342.55 while his classmate Grayson Campbell took sixth with 300.15 points. 
 
The Horns wrapped the night with a win and No. 2 time in the country in the 800 free relay, as UT sent out three Olympic gold medalists and talented sophomore Jeff Newkirk, who nearly out-split all three of his teammates. Conger led off in 1:32.54 before Newkirk split 1:32.62 on the relay’s second leg. Smith picked up the third leg in 1:33.61 while Haas anchored in 1:33.82.
 
Earlier in the day, Licon lowered his own school and Big 12 records in the 100-yard breaststroke to 51.15 seconds in a time-trial swim. The El Paso native initially set the school and league record of 51.81 during his American record-setting 200 breaststroke swim last March at the NCAA Championships. 
 
West Virginia, by way of its divers in the one-meter final, leads the meet with 137 points while Texas sits in second with 129 points. TCU holds third with 91 points.
 
Day two of the Big 12 Championships begins Thursday with preliminaries at 10 a.m. CT.

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