Aggie Women Defeat LSU for First Undefeated Season

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, January 21. THE fifth-ranked Texas A&M women's swimming & diving team completed the first undefeated dual meet season in school history with a 175-115 win over Louisiana State at the Student Rec Center Natatorium on Saturday afternoon.

A&M (9-0) won all 14 swimming events, turning in NCAA consideration times in 10 of them. The Aggies also kept their undefeated streak alive in relays, sweeping both races for the ninth time in a dual meet this season.

"It's great for us to do something that no previous team has ever done here before," A&M head coach Steve Bultman said. "That's something we strive to do as a group, however it's not the end-all to the season. The conference championship and NCAA meet are more important to us. But it is very exciting that we were able to finish undefeated and do it with a good all-around team effort today."

Sophomore Codie Hansen (Arlington), the defending Big 12 Swimmer of the Year, had a stellar day earning wins in both individual events and doing so in solid NCAA consideration times. Hansen steadily outpaced the field on each 50-yard length in the 200-yard freestyle to record her second-best time of the season at 1:48.73. The four-time Big 12 champion jumped on the opposition early in the 500-yard freestyle as well, eventually cruising to the win in 4:53.40.

Sophomore Julia Wilkinson (Stratford, Ont.) also won a pair of events in NCAA consideration times against the Tigers. Wilkinson captured the 100-yard backstroke (55.50) over teammate Kristen Heiss (56.14) while taking first in the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.48) just ahead of teammate Christine Marshall (2:02.58).

Freshman Alia Atkinson (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) continued her collegiate unbeaten streak in the 100-yard breaststroke with a spring-best time of 1:02.32. Atkinson also recorded a second NCAA consideration mark in winning the 200-yard breaststroke (2:15.30).

Saturday's meet against LSU marked Senior Day for the women's team and the seniors made sure they had their say as well. Rebecca Sturdy (Anacortes, Wash.) won a tight battle with fellow top 10-ranked teammate Triin Aljand (Tallinn, Estonia) in the 100-yard butterfly, 55.37 to 55.47. Meghan Nebera (Brentwood, Tenn.) closed out her dual meet career with a 2:04.17 win in her signature event, the 200-yard butterfly.

Junior Jenni Stratton (Portland, Ore.) put together one of the better 1,000-yard freestyle races of her career, capturing the top spot in 10:01.74 to lead a 1-2-3-4 A&M finish.

Sophomore Triin Aljand won the 50-yard freestyle in an NCAA consideration time of 23.13, one of her fastest of the season.

Sophomore Kristen Heiss (Casper, Wyo.) won an event for the second straight day, this time running roughshod over the field in the 200-yard backstroke. Heiss clocked a time of 1:59.10 to win the race by more than three full seconds.

Sophomore Christine Marshall (Newport News, Va.) held off a strong challenge in the 100-yard freestyle from LSU's Katherine Noland to win in an NCAA consideration time of 50.41.

With the dual meet season over, the undefeated Aggies will spend the next three-and-a-half weeks preparing for their greatest challenge yet: trying to win the school's first Big 12 swimming and diving team championship. Texas A&M will host the Big 12 Swimming & Diving Championships on Feb. 14-17 at the Student Rec Center Natatorium.

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