NCAA Div. I: Texas Men and Women Post Top Finishes At Big 12 Relays; Texas Women Down Houston in Dual Meet

AMES, Iowa, October 17. THE University of Texas men's and women's swimming and diving teams both posted first-place victories on Friday evening at the Big 12 Conference Relays.

The women's squad won 13 events en route to scoring 119 points, while the men's team finished first in eight events and finished the day with 105 points. Meanwhile, in Austin, half of the women's team stayed behind and posted a 127-83 dual-meet victory over Houston.

"Today is a tough day because we split our squads into two groups and asked them to compete hard although they are tired," Texas co-head coach Jill Sterkel said. "I was pleased that our swimmers in Austin were very focused and took care of business against Houston. For a lot of them, it was a new situation because a lot depended on every one of their races with a smaller squad and they met the challenge."

Texas only dropped one event on the day versus Houston as sophomore Jaclyn Faulkner (New Orleans, La.) highlighted the action. Faulkner won the 50- and 75-yard freestyles with times of 24.07 and 38.47, respectively, while also participating on victorious teams in the 400-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard medley relay.

The upperclassmen also played a large role in Texas' victory over Houston as senior Jenna Bridges (Tallahassee, Fla.) won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:52.67 and junior tri-captain Elizabeth Hoffman (Houston, Texas) claimed the top spot in the 500-yard freestyle with a mark of 5:02.97.

At the Big 12 Relays, the women's squad won the first eight events to take a comfortable lead and it never looked back en route to the victory. Texas A&M followed in second place with 90.5 points, then Missouri (63), Iowa State (49), Nebraska (37.5) and Kansas (37) rounded out the field.

The men's team, highlighted by world record holders Ian Crocker (Portland, Maine), Brendan Hansen (Haverford, Pa.) and Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif.) in the 400-yard medley relay, edged Texas A&M 109-105 for the top spot, while Missouri was third with 74 points.

Texas' trio of Crocker, Hansen and Peirsol swam the 400 medley relay for the first time since setting a world record this past summer at the 2003 World Championships as they joined with freshman Garrett Weber-Gale for a first-place finish with a time of 3:21.79.

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