Meet of the Week: Texas Invite Day Three Prelims

AUSTIN, Texas, December 1. THE final day of the Texas Invitational opened with preliminary competition on the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast and 200 fly as well as heats of the 1650 free.

Women's 200 backstroke
Julia Smit of Stanford will battle Kirsty Coventry of Longhorn in finals tonight as Smit clocked a 1:55.84 against Coventry's 1:56.52.

Arizona, meanwhile, claimed four top eight spots with 3-4-5-8 going to the Wildcats. Caitlin Iversen (1:57.37), Jenny Forster (1:57.54), Kathryn Thompson (1:57.74) and Leone Vorster (1:59.06) each made finals for Arizona.

Longhorn Elizabeth Wycliffe (1:58.23) and Stanford's Andrea Axtell (1:58.99) completed the top eight with sixth and seventh, respectively.

Men's 200 backstroke
Although Longhorn Aaron Peirsol easily earned the top spot with a time of 1:42.15, Arizona showed off some amazing depth in the event with a 2-3-4-8 finish.

Jake Tapp (1:43.59), Bryan O'Connor (1:43.99), Cory Chitwood (1:44.40) and Albert Subirats (1:45.15) threw down some top performances for Arizona, while Stanford's Eugene Godsoe (1:44.64), Tennessee's Michael Wolfe (1:44.84) and Texas' Dan Rohleder (1:44.93) comprised the rest of the championship heat with fifth through seventh.

Women's 100 freestyle
In what amounts to a Pacific 10 scrum, including the bulk of talent from the state of Arizona, six of the top eight in the women's 100 free final will hail from the Pac 10.

Stanford's Brooke Bishop topped qualifying in 48.97, while Arizona's Courtney Cashion finished second in 49.03. Arizona State's Jess Perazzo (49.10) and Jen Beckberger (49.39) placed third and fourth, while Arizona's Taylor Baughman (49.53) and Anna Turner (49.65) took sixth and seventh.

Texas' Hee-Jin Chang (49.45) and Longhorn Tanica Jamison (49.74) earned fifth and eighth, respectively.

Men's 100 freestyle
After tying with Sun Devil Nick Brunelli in the 50 free, Tucson Ford's Roland Schoeman qualified first in the 100 free with a 42.60. He will, however, have to hold off a horde of Longhorn swimmers as Ian Crocker (43.10), Dale Rogers (43.14), Neil Walker (43.61), David Cromwell (43.87) and Garrett Weber Gale (43.96) finished 2-3-5-7-8 for the hometown club.

Brunelli, meanwhile, took fourth in 43.22, while Arizona's Nicholas Nilo placed sixth in 43.86.

Women's 200 breaststroke
In another Pac 10 Championship preview, six of the top eight finishers came from the conference.

Arizona's Annie Chandler (2:12.93) and Jacquelyn Craft (2:14.25) led qualifying, while Stanford's Caroline Bruce (2:14.32), Julia Smit (2:14.50), Liz Smith (2:14.65) and Kerry Kraemer (2:17.67) placed 3-4-5-8 for the Cardinal.

Texas' Alexi Spann (2:15.31) and UNLV's Kim Bonney (2:16.16) finished sixth and seventh.

Men's 200 breaststroke
Brendan Hansen easily dominated qualifying with a top time of 1:54.62. Meanwhile, Tucson Ford's Adam Ritter placed second in 1:56.64, while Tennessee's Andrew Bree took third in 1:57.05.

The Pac 10 owned the rest of the top eight as Arizona's Bart Steninger (1:57.16), Arizona State's CJ Nuess (1:58.93), Arizona's Marcus Titus (1:58.94) and Stanford's John Criste (1:59.20) and Paul Kornfeld (1:59.25) completed the championship field.

Women's 200 butterfly
Stanford's Elaine Breeden (1:55.43) cruised in prelims to the top time of the morning. Meanwhile, Dana Kirk (1:57.26) and Arizona's Ana Agy (1:58.46) rounded out the top three times, while Tucson Ford's Whitney Myers (1:59.61) and Wisconsin's Jenni Illescas (1:59.81) finished fourth and fifth.

Arizona State's Ashton Aubry (1:59.96), Arizona's Dana Christ (2:00.27) and Wisconsin's Katie Imhoff Smith (2:00.69) closed out the top eight.

Men's 200 butterfly
Tucson Ford owned the top two spots as Juan Veloz (1:44.96) and Masayu Kishida (1:45.87) posted some top times.

Tennessee's Michael Wolfe (1:46.05), Stanford's David Mosko (1:46.34) and Texas' Ricky Berens (1:46.35) made up the rest of the top five.

Meanwhile, Arizona State's Sean Boyle (1:47.50), CJ Nuess (1:47.79) and Sun Devil Nick Brunelli (1:48.43) clinched the final championship final spots.

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