Aggies v. Texas

AUSTIN, Texas, February 2. THE sixth-ranked Texas A&M women's swimming & diving team beat No. 17 Texas, 174-124, in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown at the Texas Swimming Center.

The win marked the first by an Aggie swimming & diving team in the Longhorns' home pool in school history. It also gives Texas A&M a 4.5 to 2 lead over Texas in the Lone Star Showdown, its biggest lead since the creation of the competition four years ago.

The Aggies (9-1) won 12 of the 14 races including wins in the 400 free relay and a 1-2 finish in the 400 medley relay to open the meet.

"Texas has been a power in swimming for many, many years now," A&M head coach Steve Bultman said. "For us to come over here and get a win in their home pool for the first time ever is a great accomplishment for our girls. To get a dual meet win over them twice in two seasons is another great step for our program especially since it has never been done before. We're also more than happy to get a point in the Lone Star Showdown for our athletic department. I'm glad we could do our part in trying to win the series this year."

Junior Julia Wilkinson stepped to the forefront against the Longhorns, winning three individual events and leading off the first place 400-yard medley relay. Wilkinson won the 100 back (54.67), 100 free (49.73), and 200 individual medley (2:02.85), sporting NCAA consideration times in all three events. Her split of 54.62 leading off the 400 medley relay helped push the group to an NCAA consideration time of 3:42.03 as well.

Juniors Triin Aljand and Kristen Heiss and sophomore Alia Atkinson all contributed a pair of wins each in the Aggies' second straight win over the Longhorns. Aljand won the 50 free (22.86) and 100 fly (54.66), Heiss grabbed the 200 free (1:47.83) and 200 back (1:57.86), and Atkinson added another tally to her number of dual meet sweeps in the breaststroke (1:02.87; 2:15.24).

Junior Christine Marshall continued a very strong spring by clocking a solid NCAA consideration time of 2:00.36. Marshall held off Longhorn sophomore Susana Escobar (2:00.42), who earned Texas' only two race wins of the day (500, 1,000 free).

The group of Wilkinson, Atkinson, Aljand, and sophomore Melissa Hain opened the meet with a win the 400 medley relay in an NCAA consideration time of 3:42.03 while Aljand, Codie Hansen, Sarah Woods, and Marshall closed the meet with an NCAA ‘B' time of 3:22.90.

Special thanks to Texas A&M for contributing this report.

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