Aggies Ahead At Own Invite

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, November 17. THE No. 5 Texas A&M women are in front at their own Art Adamson Invite on Day One. The Aggies lead No. 10 Michigan 367-324.

The fifth-ranked Texas A&M women's swimming & diving team continued its string of success by sweeping all five swimming events on the first of three days of action at the Art Adamson Invitational at the Student Rec Center Natatorium Friday night.

The Aggies produced four NCAA automatic qualifying performances, one school record, and a flurry of lifetime-best performances up and down the roster in the wake of earning their highest dual meet ranking in school history.

"We had some really good swims tonight, for sure," A&M head coach Steve Bultman said. "Our confidence is pretty high right now with the win over Texas, the new ranking, and the nice bit of publicity we have been getting around here lately. All that stuff is helping them become more and more confident. We gave them a little bit of rest for this meet, letting them put suits on if they want. They are simply relishing the opportunity to step up and go fast and taking advantage of it."

Sophomore Julia Wilkinson (Stratford, Ont.), coming off a performance against the University of Texas that earned her national and Big 12 Swimmer of the Week honors, was even more impressive on day one of the Adamson Invitational. Wilkinson plowed the NCAA automatic qualifying standard in the 200-yard individual medley by more than two seconds in setting a new school record of 1:58.49. She began her evening by swimming her way to a 50 free split of 22.37 then, approximately 15 minutes after the 200 IM, recorded a high NCAA consideration standard of 22.96 in the 50 freestyle. The Canadian phenomenon closed her evening by splitting an NCAA consideration time of 54.80 on the backstroke leg of the 400-yard medley relay despite having her goggles flipped sideways across her face at the beginning of the race.

"She had a heck of a night tonight that's for sure," Bultman said. "She swam well for us towards the end of last season, has carried it through the summer and just continues to get better and better for us."

Sophomore Kristen Heiss (Casper, Wyo.) nearly eclipsed the Texas A&M school record in the 500-yard freestyle after grabbing victory in 4:46.10. Heiss, an All-American on A&M's 800 freestyle relay as a freshman, shaved an amazing six-and-a-half seconds off her previous lifetime best to take the top spot over SMU's Anja Carman (4:47.75).

Triin Aljand (Tallinn, Estonia), also a sophomore, grabbed top honors in the 50-yard freestyle. Aljand jetted to a season-best time of 22.67 to eclipse the NCAA automatic qualifying standard for the first time this season.

Christine Marshall (Newport News, Va.), another member of the Class of '09, turned in an NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 200 IM, finishing behind Wilkinson in 1:59.53. Marshall and Wilkinson produced two of the three fastest 200 IM's in school history in the same race. Marshall also clocked an NCAA consideration time of 23.13 in the 50-yard freestyle en route to a sixth-place finish.

The Aggies began the meet by scraping by the NCAA automatic qualifying standard in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The group of Marshall, freshman Alia Atkinson (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), Wilkinson, and Aljand hit the wall in 1:31.00 to earn the auto spot by .01. Michigan, thanks in part to a great finishing leg by Lindsey Smith (22.32), gave the Aggies a great race in finishing second in 1:31.29.

A&M closed the meet with a workmanlike first-place performance of 3:39.95 in the 400-yard medley relay. The same group that swam the 200 free relay for A&M won by nearly three full seconds over the runner-up Wolverines.

Other Aggies turning in NCAA consideration times were the A&M ‘B' 200 free relay (Marissa Jasek, Sarah Woods, Codie Hansen, Rebecca Sturdy), 1:33.42; Jenni Stratton, 500 freestyle, 4:50.76; Codie Hansen, 500 freestyle, 4:51.60; Sally Ranzau, 500 freestyle, 4:51.41; Alia Atkinson, 50 freestyle, 23.35; Rebecca Sturdy, 50 freestyle, 23.23; and Marissa Jasek, 50 freestyle, 23.38.

The Aggies head into day two of the Art Adamson Invitational with a 367-324 lead over No. 10 Michigan. No. 7 SMU is in third with 189 while LSU is fourth with 147.

Day two will begin at 10 a.m. with swimming preliminaries. Diving prelims will start at 1 p.m. The women's one-meter final will start at 5:15 while swimming finals and the men's three-meter springboard will be included in the evening session that starts at 6 p.m. Admission is free.

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