COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 2-ranked Texas A&M women’s swimming and diving team began its defense of its back-to-back conference team titles by bolting to the top of team standings on Day 1 of the 2018 Southeastern Conference Championships at the Student Recreation Natatorium on Wednesday.
In the Team Standings…
The Aggies raced to 160 first-day points with solid points in all three finals of the day – the one-meter dive, 200-yard medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay. Trailing the Aggies were South Carolina (142), Tennessee (136), Georgia (124), Auburn (121), Arkansas (117), LSU (116), Kentucky (113), Florida (105), Missouri (100), Alabama (92) and Vanderbilt (76).
Head Coach Steve Bultman said:
“I was very pleased with the way we came out and competed,” Bultman said. “We would have liked to have won the 200 medley relay, but that’s the faster than we’ve been so far this year so we have to take that. We had some really good splits. The 800 free relay was outstanding. To break our school record by two seconds is pretty impressive. They really stepped up. All three divers scored so they all contributed and that’s what we were hoping for. ”
SEC runner-up finish for 200 medley relay …
The foursome of senior Lisa Bratton, senior Jorie Caneta, freshman Jing Quah and sophomore Raena Eldridge turned in a runner-up effort in the 200 medley relay with a season-best time of 1:35.54. The Aggies built a lead but couldn’t hold off the Tennessee Volunteers, who won by .33 of second in 1:35.21.
Back-to-Back for the Aggies in the 800 free relay…
The Aggies made it two in a row in the 800 free relay as the foursome of sophomore Katie Portz, junior Claire Rasmus, senior Kristin Malone and junior Sydney Pickrem lopped more than two seconds off the old school record. The foursome touched in a time of 6:55.60, which broke the old mark of 6:57.90 set by the 2017 Aggies at last year’s SEC Championships. The 2017 relay featured Pickrem, Portz and Rasmus, along with Sarah Gibson. Tennessee was the leader through the first three legs, but Pickrem split 1:42.98, which was the fastest leg of the day by more than a half-second, on the anchor leg to lead the Aggies to the victory.
Dive crew shines in 1m dive…
All three of the Aggies’ divers contributed points as the group combined to score 40 points in the one-meter springboard dive. Freshman Charlye Campbell led the way with an eighth-place finish with a score of 271.30. Fellow freshman Kaja Skrzek was right behind in 11th place with a 277.75 point total and junior Alais Kalonji placed 23rd with 242.65 points.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics