Big 12 Weekly Preview: Texas Hosts Indiana and Florida

Photo Courtesy: Dan D'Addona

By Jason Tillotson.

The Big 12 has had a slow start this year, with only two meets this past weekend; West Virginia University traveled to their annual WV State Games, where the Mountaineers competed against all other WV-based collegiate teams, and emerged victorious with an overall team score of 1,829 points.

Iowa State held their annual Cardinal-Gold intrasquad meet, with the Cardinal team coming out on top with a score of 115-94.

This week, the pace of action picks up with three separate double duals around the conference. The University of Texas men and women will host a double dual with Florida and Indiana, while West Virginia will host the same type of meet with Seton Hall and Xavier.

The Iowa State Cyclones, the only strictly-women’s team in the conference, will host South Dakota and South Dakota State this weekend.

Texas Hosts Florida and Indiana

2017 meet scores:

Men

Indiana: 264.00, Texas: 165.00

Florida: 258.00, Texas: 171.00

Indiana: 242.00, Florida: 187.00

Women

Texas: 226.50, Indiana: 200.50

Texas: 290.50, Florida: 136.50

Indiana: 251.00, Florida: 178.00

The Longhorn men could find themselves at a slight disadvantage against the Gators and Hoosiers during this matchup, due to the graduation of superstars Joseph Schooling and Brett Ringgold. Although Texas does retain sophomore standouts Sam Pomajevich, Austin Katz and veteran Townley Haas, to help fill in the gaps.

The Florida men also suffer some losses as well, with go-to guys Caeleb Dressel and Jan Switkowski having graduated. Florida will look to Bailey Main and Michael Taylor to step up for the Gators.

Indiana might have the most continuities from last year’s meet to this year’s, with the only notable graduation being sprint-man Ali Khalafalla. The Hoosier still retain Vini Lanza and Ian Finnerty to take the butterfly and breaststroke responsibilities, respectively.

On the women’s side the lady Longhorns are setting themselves up to win, as they did last year. Freestyle experts Joanna Evans, Remedy Rule and Anelise Diener will look to lead their squad into victory.

Iowa State Hosts South Dakota and South Dakota State

The Iowa State Cyclones, the only single-gender team competing in the conference this weekend, is hosting a two-day double dual with South Dakota and South Dakota State. The Cyclones destroyed the Coyotes last year, scoring a total of 227 points over South Dakota’s tally of 71.

While Iowa State has swum a dual with South Dakota for the past several years, the Cyclones are welcoming South Dakota State to the party for the first time.

The Cyclones lost senior stud Mary Kate Luddy but will retain sophomore standouts Keely Soellner and Marth Haas.

West Virginia Versus Seton Hall and Xavier

2017 meet scores:

Men

WVU: 224.00, Xavier: 53.00

Seton Hall: 162.50, Xavier: 111.50

WVU: 227.00, Seton Hall: 53.00

Women

WVU: 198.00, Xavier: 79.00

Xavier: 140.00, Seton Hall: 134.00

WVU: 217.00, Seton Hall: 63.00

In last year’s rendition of the meet, the men and women Mountaineers were able to out-swim both Seton Hall and Xavier. The men have a solid chance of repeating last year’s success as they have kept all their essential scorers, minus Nate Carr.

On the women’s side of the meet, backstroke guru Amelie Currat, breaststroke star Emma Harris and butterfly duo of Morgan Carr and Morgan Bullock will aim to defeat Xavier and Seton Hall once again.

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