Big 12 Weekly Preview: Texas Women Just One Step Away From Perfect Season

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Photo Courtesy: Andy Ringgold/Aringo

By Jason Tillotson.

With the month of February and, subsequently, conference championships quickly approaching many teams have holes in their schedule in preparation for the big show later this month. Despite the lack of match-ups this week, we still have some intense conference duals around the Big 12.

The University of Texas men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will host the Horned Frogs from Texas Christian University. Meanwhile in Ames, Iowa the Iowa State Cyclones will host a two-day dual with the Jayhawks from Kansas University.

Here’s a closer look at this week’s Big 12 conference action:

Texas vs. TCU

The lady Longhorns will look to continue their so-far perfect season this Friday during their senior-day match-up against TCU. A win over TCU would grant head coach Carol Capitani a record of 8-0 while men’s head coach Eddie Reese is currently running a record of 3-5.

Both Longhorn squads are coming off duals with ASU and Arizona, where the ladies emerged victorious in both meets and the gentlemen suffered a loss against ASU and earned a victory over Arizona.

The ladies will look to the seniors Sam Sutton and Rebecca Millard to lead the team while strong junior class of Quinn Carrozza, Joanna Evans and Nora McCullagh will also be likely contributors for the Longhorns on Friday.

On the men’s side, this weekend’s competition could serve as an opportunity for the Longhorns to test out some different relay options before Big 12’s and NCAA’s. With the Longhorns obviously lacking a go-to top-notch breaststroker, this TCU dual could be a chance for Reese to play around with senior Joseph Schooling at the breaststroke leg, instead of usual suspect Casey Melzer.

Austin Katz, Jonathan Roberts and John Shebat will likely take care of the backstroke responsibilities for the Longhorns.

Though neither TCU squad has the breadth or depth to keep up with the Longhorns in terms of overall score, the Horned Frogs could potentially slip into some key races, especially if the Longhorns do decided to shake up their usual lineup.

Iowa State vs. Kansas

The Cyclones will take on conference rival Kansas this weekend in two-day dual meet format.

Kansas is just coming off a tough loss against Arkansas, having been defeated 180-120 while Iowa State suffered the exact same loss against Villanova and simultaneously took a 140-160 loss against West Virginia University last weekend.

The Cyclones will likely look to the usual suspects in their attempts to defeat the Jayhawks. Seniors Mary Kate Luddy, Laura Miksch and Kasey Roberts should score key points for Iowa State while a strong freshman class consisting of Martha Haas and Grace Snyder should also assist the Cyclones in relay situations.

Meanwhile Kansas will bring the duo of Haley Downey and Haley Bishop to the tank to take on the breaststroke and freestyle duties, respectively while seasoned seniors Hannah Driscoll and Nika Fellows should play key roles for the Jayhawks in the relay situations.

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Superfan

6 years ago

Your definition on perfect is different than mine. I would say winning NCAA is perfect in our sport!