Big 12 Conference: Day One

COLUMBIA, Missouri, February 22. THE Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team made some noise on the first day of the Aggies' final Big 12 Championships on Wednesday at the Mizzou Aquatic Center.

In the first race of the four-day competition, the Aggies destroyed their school record in the 200-yard medley relay, taking down the meet record and the overall Big 12 record in the process. The foursome of junior Tess Simpson, sophomore Breeja Larson, sophomore Paige Miller and sophomore Erica Dittmer touched the wall in 1:36.02 to break the old school, conference and meet record of 1:36.62 set by A&M's 2011 edition. The time was also an NCAA 'A' cut which guarantees the foursome a spot at the national championships.

'Any time we can break the school, meet and conference record by six-tenths of a second, that's pretty impressive,' Aggie head coach Steve Bultman said. 'It was a great way to start the meet off. They were solid all the way through. Obviously Breeja and Paige were really good, but it was really good leadoff split for Tess and a good anchor for Erica. I think we can even still go faster.'

The Aggies also shined with a runner-up finish in the 800 free relay with the foursome of junior Maureen McLaine, freshman Kelli Benjamin, freshman Ellen Quirke and senior Megan Latone turning in a NCAA 'B' cut time of 7:07.35.

'We had three brand-new girls on that relay, and I thought they were all very solid,' Bultman said. 'We would have liked to have been a little bit faster, but it was a good swim and we'll take that.'

After day one's two races, the Aggies hold a slim two-point lead over Texas in the team standings 74-72, and the two rivals were trailed by Missouri (66), Kansas (60) and Iowa State (56).

The Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team grabbed the first day lead at the Big 12 Championships on Wednesday at the Mizzou Aquatic Center.

The Aggies jumped to the top of the standings with a pair of runner-up finishes in two relay races and four divers in the top seven of the one-meter springboard.

'We're happy with the way we competed today, but we have to get ready for tomorrow,' Aggie head coach Jay Holmes said. 'The divers did a great job and that helps us so much. This meet has just started. We still have six more sessions left and we have a lot of things we want to get done. We're going to go back to the hotel and tell our guys 'great job, get some sleep and be ready to come in Thursday morning and get better.''

The Aggies' dive crew scored a whopping 55 points on the one-meter with sophomore Hayden Jones taking third with 375.20 points, and sophomore Adam Ruiz, sophomore Antonio Page-Kahn and senior Paul Xiques sweeping places 5-6-7. Ruiz and Page-Kahn posted career-bests of 335.80 and 318.60, respectively, to grab their NCAA zone cuts, while Xiques turned in a score of 263.40. Last year's Big 12 Champion Grant Nel wasn't able to defend his title while competing with the Australian team in preparation for this summer's Olympic Games.

A&M also shined in the 800-yard freestyle relay with the foursome of sophomore Paul-Marc Schweitzer, junior John Dalton, senior Boris Loncaric and junior John Wagner finishing second and breaking the school record by nearly three seconds with a NCAA 'B' cut time of 6:21.88.

'That was one of the most memorable races I've ever seen our team do,' Holmes said. 'Right now I'm really stoked about that relay because they swam really, really well. It was just an overall great effort by those four guys.'

The Aggies also grabbed a runner-up finish in the 200-yard medley relay with the foursome of senior John Ariens, senior Amini Fonua, senior Boris Loncaric and sophomore Kyle Troskot touching the wall in an NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:25.87.

The Aggies scored 123 points after three events on the first day to take an eight-point lead over Texas (115 points), followed by Missouri with 92 points.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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