Aggie Men Lead Big-12s Due To Longhorn DQ, Aggie and Longhorn Women Tied At 74 At Big 12s

AUSTIN, Texas, February 25. THE University of Texas men's swimming and diving team began its quest for its 25th consecutive conference title, while the women's squad aimed for its seventh straight as both teams began competition at the Big 12 Conference Swimming and Diving Championships on Wednesday at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center.

After two events, the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay, the women's team is tied for first with Texas A&M after each squad posted 74 points, while the men's team is in second behind the Aggies after finishing the day with 40 points. Texas A&M leads the men's competition with 74 points, 40 of which came in the 200-yard medley relay after both Texas and Missouri were disqualified for false starts.

"We gave away 40 points tonight that we can't get back," Texas head coach Eddie Reese said. "We don't take anything at this meet for granted, but we are optimistic that we have our best swimmers out there who can score points for us."

Although the Texas men's team started out in a hole, despite the fact their 200-yard medley relay team would have been one second off the American record if the time had counted despite four unshaved swimmers, they still rebounded for a victory in the 800-yard freestyle relay after posting an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 6:26.01.

Junior John Nabors (Spring, Texas), the only member of the relay team shaved for the meet, earned his second Big 12 title of his career by leading off with a split of 1:37.37, which ranks as the best time by a UT swimmer this year in the 200-yard freestyle. Sophomore Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif.), the 2003 Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year, is taking aim at Swimmer of the Year honors this season after swimming the second leg, while junior Rainer Kendrick (Birmingham, Ala.) and senior Tony Diers (Houston, Texas) rounded out the team. The title is the third of Diers career and the fourth for Kendrick.

The A&M 800 free relay of Katy Lieb, Danielle Townsend, Tiffany Moore and Rebecca Sturdy capitalized on the excitement in the air by winning A&M’s first conference relay win since 1983. Only Moore (Jan. 13, 1983) was born the last time the Aggies had won a conference relay of any kind. The Aggies took down the old school record of 7:14.96 set last season by Casey Mucha, Townsend, Moore and Katie Fancher by swimming a time of 7:12.98. Despite not being an automatic qualifier, the time ranks No. 5 in the nation and is almost three seconds faster than the consideration mark that qualified the Aggies for the NCAA Championships a year ago.

Lieb, a sophomore, took more than two seconds off her lifetime-best and NCAA consideration time of 1:50.66 set against LSU on Jan. 23. Lieb’s leadoff time of 1:48.57 ranks fifth in A&M history and is No. 35 in the nation. Lieb handed a .02 lead to Townsend who clocked a split of 1:46.94. Texas had a .10 lead going into the final leg when Aggie freshman broke the race open with a final split of 1:46.90. Sturdy outsplit Texas anchor Kaela Humphries by 3.87 seconds on the final leg to give A&M the long-sought victory.

The longhorn medley relay, which featured two freshmen and two upperclassmen, cruised to an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 1:38.71. Freshman Connie Brown (Andover, Mass.) and classmate Elizabeth Tinnon (Bowling Green, Ky.) gave Texas almost a second lead after the first two legs, allowing junior Sarah Wanezek (Brookfiedl, Wis.) and senior Lacey Elliott (El Paso, Texas) to close out the win. Wanezek, the 2003 Big 12 Conference Swimmer of the Year, earned the seventh Big 12 title of her career in the event as she tries to even last year's results when she won six events.

In the 800-yard freestyle relay, UT's women's squad was slightly off the pace set by Texas A&M. Texas still managed an NCAA consideration time in the event as the team of freshman Katie Robinson (Dillsboro, Ind.), sophomore Kristy Siminski (Portage, Ind.), sophomore Elizabeth Wycliffe (Kingston, Ontario) and junior Kaela Humphries (Chaska, Minn.) combined to post a time of 7:16.75.

Event 1 Women 200 Yard Medley Relay
==================================================================
Meet: ! 1:38.38 2/17/01 Texas, Texas
Robins, Kitson, Denman, Lanne'
1:39.90 AUTO
1:42.89 CONS
School Finals
==================================================================
=== Timed Finals ===

1 Texas 'A' 1:38.71 AUTO
1) Brown, Connie FR 2) Tinnon, Elizabeth FR
3) Wanezek, Sarah JR 4) Elliot, Lacey SR
12.47 25.25 37.44 52.66
1:02.98 1:15.91 1:26.78 1:38.71
2 Texas A&M 'A' 1:39.87 AUTO
1) Patterson, Courtney 2) Briskie, Erin
3) Sturdy, Rebecca 4) Bird, Michelle
12.61 25.55 38.53 53.60
1:04.26 1:17.52 1:27.92 1:39.87
3 Kansas 'A' 1:42.48 CONS
1) Sondall, Whitney SR 2) Bakke, Hannah FR
3) Gruber, Amy JR 4) Bolin, Kim SR
12.91 26.06 39.26 55.21
1:06.43 1:19.67 1:30.50 1:42.48
4 Iowa State 'A' 1:42.78 CONS
1) Schmugge, Kim SR 2) Plaminkova, Petra SR
3) Benson, Brita JR 4) Dyshaw, Sam SR
13.03 26.41 39.65 55.51
1:06.69 1:20.17 1:30.86 1:42.78
5 Missouri 'A' 1:43.82
1) Lo, Sarah SR 2) Borgo, Ellen SR
3) Schoborg, Liz SO 4) Nigh, Andrea SR
13.21 26.65 39.95 55.92
1:07.30 1:20.66 1:31.70 1:43.82
6 Nebraska 'A' 1:44.61
1) Keathley, Mallory FR 2) Matheu, Angie SR
3) Ingles, Bailey FR 4) Criss, Michelle FR
13.42 27.21 40.09 55.53
1:06.83 1:20.83 1:32.42 1:44.61
— Texas 'B' X1:42.10 CONS
1) Wycliffe, Elizabeth SO 2) Avilla, Leah FR
3) Leininger, Laura Jo SR 4) Robbins, J
13.16 26.12 38.99 54.82
1:06.23 1:19.49 1:30.12 1:42.10
— Texas A&M 'B' X1:45.48
1) Gentile, D 2) Pesek, Britney
3) Thompson, Christina 4) King, B
13.44 27.02 40.18 56.43
1:08.04 1:22.08 1:33.03 1:45.48
— Texas 'C' X1:46.13
1) Schuknecht, Alisa JR 2) Hemmerle, Tracey SO
3) Nath, P 4) Razo, A
13.53 27.26 41.08 57.70
1:09.04 1:23.07 1:33.97 1:46.13
— Missouri 'B' X1:46.28
1) Morford, Amanda JR 2) Costa, Mariona JR
3) Wood, Belinda JR 4) Palbykin, Lindsay JR
13.37 26.96 40.32 56.62
1:08.44 1:22.54 1:33.97 1:46.28
— Texas A&M 'C' XDQ
1) Soni, R 2) Savage, Kelsey
3) Lietzau, Katy 4) Fancher, Katie
14.00 28.02 41.52 57.87
1:09.26 1:23.26 1:34.23 1:46.83

Event 2 Men 200 Yard Medley Relay
==================================================================
Meet: ! 1:26.08 3/3/00 Texas, Texas
Ulrickson, Chozick, Dusing, Jones
1:26.72 AUTO
1:29.32 CONS
School Finals
==================================================================
=== Timed Finals ===

1 Texas A&M 'A' 1:29.05 CONS
1) Zielsdorf, Calvin JR 2) Jacobo, Alfredo JR
3) Newmann, Scott SO 4) Blanchard, Dan JR
11.58 23.16 34.21 47.86
57.68 1:09.52 1:18.64 1:29.05
— Texas 'C' X1:28.49 CONS
1) Weber_Gale, Garrett 2) Schurr, Christian A
3) Kahn, David R 4) O'Halloran, Tyler T
11.25 22.67 34.04 47.86
57.29 1:09.29 1:18.24 1:28.49
— Texas A&M 'B' X1:30.03
1) Neal, M 2) Friggel, David JR
3) Collins, R 4) Nelan, C
12.11 23.86 35.24 48.96
58.49 1:10.34 1:19.61 1:30.03
— Texas A&M 'C' X1:31.50
1) Dawson, Alex SO 2) Moeller, J
3) Saez, Devin SO 4) Kemp, R
11.75 23.55 34.54 48.55
58.55 1:10.91 1:20.72 1:31.50
— Missouri 'B' X1:35.41
1) Thomas, Jacob JR 2) Zabel, Nate FR
3) Buhr, Dan SO 4) Pontecore, Chris FR
12.56 25.07 36.80 51.37
1:01.91 1:14.40 1:24.20 1:35.41
— Texas 'A' DQ
1) Davidson, Andrew FR 2) Hansen, Brendan SO
3) DiToro, Daniel FR 4) Crocker, Ian SO
11.12 22.15 32.66 46.04
55.03 1:06.71 1:15.49 1:25.47
— Texas 'B' XDQ
1) O'Brien, Nate FR 2) Molnar, M
3) Rourke, D 4) Greiner, G
11.71 23.26 34.16 47.98
57.84 1:10.00 1:19.14 1:29.65
— Missouri 'A' DQ
1) Lukas, Chris SO 2) North, Matt JR
3) Belanger, Tyler SR 4) Lyons, Jason FR
11.63 23.49 34.42 48.44
58.17 1:10.45 1:20.31 1:31.27

Event 3 Women 800 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================
Meet: ! 7:12.70 2/20/98 Nebraska, Nebraska
Johnson, Alshammar, Windsor, Muller
7:11.65 AUTO
7:24.59 CONS
School Finals
==================================================================
=== Timed Finals ===

1 Texas A&M 'A' 7:12.98 CONS
1) Lieb, Katy Q 2) Townsend, Danielle
3) Moore, Tiffany 4) Sturdy, Rebecca
11.95 25.05 38.39 52.03
1:05.76 1:19.96 1:34.43 1:48.57
1:59.87 2:12.88 2:26.35 2:40.14
2:53.59 3:07.41 3:21.53 3:35.51
3:48.20 3:51.79 4:15.79 4:29.79
4:43.69 4:57.74 5:12.06 5:26.08
5:37.04 5:50.19 6:03.74 6:17.40
6:31.21 6:45.15 6:59.20 7:12.98
2 Texas 'A' 7:16.75 CONS
1) Robinson, Katie FR 2) Siminski, Kristy SO
3) Wycliffe, Elizabeth SO 4) Humphries, Kaela JR
11.74 24.56 37.86 51.72
1:05.67 1:19.90 1:34.55 1:48.59
1:59.94 2:05.28 2:26.61 2:40.65
2:54.58 3:08.86 3:23.22 3:37.26
3:49.04 4:02.44 4:16.18 4:30.30
4:44.17 4:58.41 5:12.26 5:25.98
5:37.47 5:50.66 6:04.05 6:17.73
6:31.67 6:46.30 7:01.45 7:16.75
3 Kansas 'A' 7:20.10 CONS
1) Gruber, Amy JR 2) Gnatzig, Gina SO
3) Colver, Alyson JR 4) Krueger, Jacquelyn JR
11.93 25.30 39.06 53.12
1:07.01 1:21.22 1:35.42 1:49.07
2:00.91 2:04.74 2:27.66 2:41.44
2:55.32 3:09.56 3:23.90 3:38.09
3:49.55 4:02.80 4:16.45 4:30.43
4:44.68 4:59.12 5:13.87 5:28.47
5:40.40 5:45.01 6:06.97 6:21.03
6:35.40 6:50.27 7:05.31 7:20.10
4 Missouri 'A' 7:27.47
1) Igoe, Lizza SR 2) Palbykin, Lindsay JR
3) Kraus, Lindsay FR 4) Nigh, Andrea SR
12.25 25.77 39.59 53.55
1:07.75 1:22.17 1:36.98 1:51.45
2:03.49 2:17.07 2:31.04 2:45.34
2:59.80 3:14.27 3:28.91 3:42.90
3:55.10 4:08.56 4:22.23 4:36.34
4:50.68 5:05.64 5:21.05 5:35.66
5:47.31 5:54.13 6:14.86 6:29.05
6:43.35 6:57.93 7:12.78 7:27.47
5 Iowa State 'A' 7:28.52
1) Breunig, Lauren FR 2) Plaminkova, Petra SR
3) Lindberg, Jenny JR 4) Notbohm, Susanne SR
12.32 25.64 39.24 52.94
1:07.08 1:21.39 1:36.15 1:50.59
2:02.88 2:07.02 2:30.76 2:44.97
2:59.22 3:13.50 3:27.90 3:41.87
3:53.78 4:07.79 4:21.61 4:35.78
4:49.98 5:04.50 5:19.53 5:34.18
5:46.66 6:00.35 6:14.27 6:28.77
6:43.54 6:58.72 7:13.58 7:28.52
6 Nebraska 'A' 7:31.87
1) Bailey, Lauren FR 2) Wheeler, Kate FR
3) King, Alex SO 4) McCauley, Julie FR
12.41 25.95 39.64 53.75
1:07.97 1:22.62 1:37.24 1:51.52
2:03.39 2:16.74 2:30.66 2:44.82
2:59.18 3:13.83 3:28.91 3:43.28
3:54.96 4:08.63 4:22.71 4:37.17
4:51.80 5:06.88 5:22.35 5:37.36
5:49.51 6:03.23 6:17.29 6:31.39
6:45.61 7:00.44 7:16.03 7:31.87
— Texas 'B' X7:21.20 CONS
1) Anderson, Stephanie FR 2) Brown, Connie FR
3) Hoffman, Elizabeth JR 4) Faulkner, Jaclyn SO
12.17 25.49 38.96 52.82
1:06.80 1:21.17 1:35.59 1:49.65
2:00.93 2:14.18 2:27.76 2:41.82
2:55.79 3:10.32 3:24.85 3:39.03
3:51.15 4:04.71 4:18.46 4:32.52
4:46.69 5:01.08 5:15.63 5:29.92
5:41.13 5:54.39 6:08.03 6:22.31
6:36.41 6:51.20 7:06.20 7:21.20
— Texas 'C' X7:22.67 CONS
1) Larence, A 2) Molina, M
3) Bridges, J 4) Ferritto, Elaine FR
12.30 25.45 39.09 52.82
1:06.75 1:20.93 1:35.40 1:49.50
2:01.00 2:06.27 2:27.73 2:41.66
2:55.86 3:10.48 3:25.39 3:40.21
3:51.86 4:05.32 4:19.12 4:33.27
4:47.76 5:02.41 5:17.09 5:31.55
5:43.13 5:48.51 6:09.80 6:24.03
6:38.48 6:53.23 7:08.36 7:22.67
— Texas A&M 'B' X7:31.31
1) Fancher, Katie 2) Zwierzykowski, Ewelina
3) Bird, Michelle 4) Thompson, Christina
12.32 25.88 39.93 54.41
1:08.98 1:23.96 1:39.51 1:54.03
2:05.79 2:19.29 2:33.17 2:47.19
3:01.41 3:15.72 3:30.21 3:43.96
3:55.71 4:09.49 4:23.84 4:38.19
4:52.50 5:07.04 5:21.71 5:35.83
5:47.86 5:51.08 6:16.85 6:31.69
6:46.66 7:01.61 7:16.78 7:31.31
— Missouri 'B' X7:45.54
1) Morford, Megan JR 2) Gainey, Kim FR
3) Wender, R 4) Pontecore, L
12.99 27.13 41.65 56.45
1:11.30 1:26.49 1:41.66 1:56.44
2:08.84 2:22.77 2:37.10 2:51.76
3:06.59 3:21.71 3:36.85 3:51.57
4:03.95 4:08.57 4:33.57 4:48.89
5:04.23 5:19.62 5:34.80 5:49.57
6:01.60 6:05.24 6:30.30 6:44.97
6:59.84 7:15.18 7:30.53 7:45.54

Event 4 Men 800 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================
Meet: ! 6:22.89 2/20/03 Texas, Texas
Suchand, Peirsol, Kendrick, Kemp
6:26.08 AUTO
6:37.66 CONS
School Finals
==================================================================
=== Timed Finals ===

1 Texas 'A' 6:26.01 AUTO
1) Nabors, John FR 2) Piersol, Aaron W
3) Kendrick, Rainer FR 4) Diers, Tony SO
10.91 22.79 34.96 47.25
59.56 1:11.98 1:24.96 1:37.37
1:47.34 1:58.94 2:10.96 2:23.16
2:35.30 2:47.50 3:00.17 3:12.44
3:22.37 3:34.61 3:46.80 3:59.29
4:11.79 4:24.26 4:36.61 4:48.70
4:59.00 5:10.79 5:22.76 5:35.11
5:47.34 6:00.02 6:12.99 6:26.01
2 Texas A&M 'A' 6:29.81 CONS
1) Mueller, Scott SR 2) Newmann, Scott SO
3) Rose, Matt SR 4) Hill, Josh SR
10.90 22.89 34.83 46.99
59.15 1:11.53 1:24.26 1:36.92
1:47.12 1:58.91 2:10.97 2:23.09
2:35.35 2:47.92 3:00.76 3:13.82
3:23.71 3:35.26 3:47.16 3:59.55
4:12.11 4:24.80 4:38.04 4:51.11
5:01.09 5:12.91 5:25.01 5:37.41
5:50.01 6:02.89 6:16.26 6:29.81
3 Missouri 'A' 6:50.77
1) Lyons, Jason FR 2) Searby, Ryan JR
3) Pennington, Wade SO 4) Musfeldt, Chris SR
10.99 22.98 35.36 48.06
1:00.96 1:14.03 1:27.11 1:39.56
1:50.51 2:03.12 2:16.01 2:29.15
2:42.33 2:55.98 3:09.51 3:22.69
3:33.81 3:46.66 3:59.53 4:12.77
4:26.03 4:39.57 4:53.32 5:06.63
5:17.39 5:22.59 5:42.11 5:54.97
6:08.13 6:21.91 6:36.26 6:50.77
— Texas 'B' X6:31.65 CONS
1) Sacco, T 2) Kelley, Wade P
3) Donaldson, David A 4) McAnally, Austin JR
10.43 22.24 34.72 47.36
59.94 1:12.89 1:25.74 1:38.10
1:48.46 2:00.52 2:12.93 2:25.45
2:38.20 2:51.02 3:04.03 3:16.59
3:26.49 3:38.19 3:50.47 4:03.00
4:15.70 4:28.54 4:41.51 4:54.40
5:04.46 5:16.36 5:28.55 5:40.98
5:53.56 6:06.37 6:19.22 6:31.65
— Texas A&M 'B' X6:42.11
1) Travnicek, Joel JR 2) Solomon, Mark SO
3) Neal, M 4) Hanson, Scott SR
10.76 22.73 34.95 47.46
1:00.27 1:13.38 1:26.61 1:39.43
1:50.24 2:02.43 2:15.17 2:28.13
2:41.13 2:54.36 3:07.73 3:20.78
3:31.72 3:44.03 3:56.56 4:09.25
4:22.09 4:35.09 4:48.19 5:01.11
5:11.49 5:23.85 5:36.53 5:49.29
6:02.18 6:15.44 6:29.01 6:42.11
— Missouri 'B' X6:56.78
1) Buhr, Dan SO 2) Willett, Peter FR
3) Mc Knight, Dustin SR 4) Pontecore, Chris FR
11.39 23.55 36.00 49.03
1:02.23 1:15.94 1:29.65 1:43.47
1:54.60 2:07.22 2:20.21 2:33.67
2:46.74 3:00.32 3:13.43 3:26.14
3:36.96 3:49.55 4:02.48 4:15.93
4:29.37 4:42.93 4:56.55 5:09.96
5:20.93 5:33.78 5:47.17 6:01.06
6:14.89 6:29.37 6:43.32 6:56.78

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