Texas Women, Ohio State Men Finish Off Domination of Tri-Meet With Alabama

Texas junior Emma Sticklen -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Texas Women, Ohio State Men Finish Off Domination of Tri-Meet With Alabama

In a three-team meet featuring the University of Texas and Ohio State University taking on the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, the Longhorn women and Buckeye men emerged victorious as both teams extended their advantages on the second day of competition. Texas’ Kelly Pash and Ohio State’s Alex Quach were the stars for their respective squads on day one, and both swimmers won individual events Saturday.

College swimming news

Women’s Meet

The Texas women made their presence felt right away with a dominant performance in the 400 medley relay. Olivia Bray, Lydia Jacoby, Emma Sticklen and Pash finished in 3:32.85, more than five seconds ahead of the field, and Pash followed that up with an individual win in the 100 freestyle (48.37). Later on, Pash won the 200 IM in 1:58.24.

In the 200 breaststroke, Jacoby got a serious push from Ohio State’s Josie Panitz, who led most of the race before the decorated Texas freshman came home in 33.34 to pull ahead of Panitz, 2:11.14 to 2:11.46. Sticklen won the 100 butterfly in 52.10, with Bray taking second in 53.32. In 3-meter diving, Bridget O’Neil scored 366.60 to lead a Texas 1-2-3-4 finish with Hailey Hernandez, Janie Boyle and Sarah Carruthers.

While the Ohio State women did not get any individual wins on Saturday, Felicity Pasadyn took second in three individual events (200 back, 500 free and 200 IM) while Panitz (200 breast) and Amy Fulmer (100 free) also finished in the runnerup spot. But in the final event, with the Longhorns having already clinched the win, the team of Katherine Zenick, Teresa Ivan, Nyah Funderburke and Amy Fulmer took first in the 200 free relay in 1:29.22, 0.12 ahead of Texas. Pash split 21.78 to nearly run down Fulmer, but Fulmer hung on for a big win.

Alabama, meanwhile, got wins from two big-name swimmers: Rhyan White in the 200 backstroke (1:54.03) and Kensey McMahon in the 500 free (4:47.43).

Team Scores

Texas 213.5, Alabama 139.5
Texas 196, Ohio State 157
Ohio State 220, Alabama 133

Men’s Meet

Ohio State led 2022 national runnerup Texas by 16 points following day one, and the Buckeyes extended that margin to 25 on day two. In the 400 medley relay, the OSU team of Thomas Watkins, Pete Krusinski, Quach and Ruslan Gaziev picked up the win in 3:09.69, finishing almost a half-second ahead of Texas’ 3:10.16. Quach split 45.54 on butterfly to accelerate ahead of Texas and give the Buckeyes a lead they would not relinquish. Following that, Gaziev won the 100 free in 43.37, and then Watkins edged out a fast-finishing Carson Foster and win the 200 back by nine hundredths, 1:42.67 to 1:42.76.

Quach then won an individual event of his own, the 100 fly, in 46.34 while Chachi Gustafson made it a 1-2 finish with his time of 48.10. Lyle Yosit scored 408.60 points to win 3-meter diving, and finally, in another huge relay performance, the team of Quach, James Ward, Daniel Baltes and Gaziev won the 200 free relay by more than a second in 1:18.67.

Texas did secure wins from Jake Foster in the 100 breast (1:56.08) and David Johnston in the 500 free (4:18.49), and then the Foster brothers went 1-2 in the 200 IM, with Carson winning (1:45.03) and Foster taking second (1:57.79).

Team Scores

Ohio State 230, Alabama 123
Ohio State 189, Texas 164
Texas 220.5, Alabama 132.5

Full Meet Results

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