NCAA Div. I Women: Texas Aggies Defeat Kansas

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 13. THE Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team put together its first win streak of the season thanks to a 187-108 defeat of Big 12 foe Kansas at the Student Rec Center Natatorium on Sunday.

The Aggies proved solid across the board, winning every event with the exception of the 200-yard freestyle, including both diving competitions.

"We thought it was going to be a toss-up coming in," said A&M head coach Steve Bultman. "When you looked at each team's seasonal bests list before the meet, the performances were split right down the middle at seven and seven. We just stepped up and took care of business today. I'm excited not only at how we won the meet, but at the quality of the times that we posted as well."

Clara Ho had a career day, breaking her own A&M school record in the 200-yard butterfly. Ho's time of 1:59.17 was almost three seconds faster than she had swum all year and is also an NCAA automatic qualifying time. The Aggie All-American also turned in a seasonal best and NCAA provisional qualifying time in winning the 100 butterfly in 55.34. Ho was also a member of the first place 400-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle teams that set seasonal best times of 3:50.27 and 1:36.22, respectively.

"I was not expecting to see her go that low," Bultman said. "I thought she might go 2:00 flat. To get that lifetime best was super. It was a sensational swim."

Two-time All-American Meghan Zack continued her phenomenal year on the springboards by sweeping both the one-meter and three-meter events for the sixth time in seven attempts. The A&M senior beat Kansas' Rebecca McFall 274.57 to 260.17 on the one-meter and 311.25 to 285.67 on the three-meter.

Ironically, every member of A&M's first place 400-yard freestyle team swept all of their individual events as well.

A&M freshman Courtney Patterson was one of four Aggies to win at least three events against the Jayhawks. Patterson set seasonal bests in sweeping both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke races. Patterson's times of 57.06 and 2:04.33 were the capstones of 1-2-3-4 finishes for A&M in each race. The freshman from Plano also was a member of the 400-yard medley team that set a seasonal best in the first race of the day.

Freshman Danielle Townsend equaled Ho's daily victory total of four with wins in both relays as well as sweeps in the fastest two freestyle events. Townsend clocked a lifetime best of 23.97 in the 50-yard race while finishing in 51.84 at 100 yards.

Another Aggie freshman, Tiffany Moore, swept both distance freestyle events. Moore won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:00.89 and the 1000-yard race going away in 10:17.64.

Not to be outdone, another A&M standout won both of the breaststroke events. Kelsey Savage, who was a member of the first place 400-yard medley team, won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:05.92 and the 200 breast in 2:22.55.

Ashley Roark, another one of A&M's fabulous freshmen, won the 200 individual medley in a seasonal best time of 2:07.74.

The foursome of Ho, senior Laura DeCook, Townsend and sophomore Michelle Bird took first in the 200-freestyle relay in a seasonal best time of 1:36.22.

With the win, the Aggies even their overall record at 4-4 while they break into the Big 12 win column at 1-2. A&M will be busy this coming weekend with dual meets scheduled at Louisiana State on Friday and at Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday. Both meets are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

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