By Dan D’Addona.
It was bound to happen at some point.
After 103 consecutive home victories, the No. 2 Georgia women’s swimming & diving team lost a meet at home. No. 5 Texas snapped the Bulldogs’ NCAA record streak with a 171-124 victory on Saturday.
Georgia last lost a home meet in 1995.
It was a special win for the Longhorns (9-1), but extra special for Texas coach Carol Capitani, who was a Georgia assistant for 14 years under Jack Bauerle until 2012 when she left to become the Longhorns’ head coach.
Texas captured the lead through the first event and never trailed. The Longhorns won the 200-yard medley relay by about two seconds, as All-America seniors Tasija Karosas and Madisyn Cox joined sophomore Remedy Rule and All-America junior Rebecca Millard to win in 1 minute, 37.70 seconds.
Texas sophomore Joanna Evans, a Rio Olympian for The Bahamas, won the 1,000 freestyle in 9:46.40. Cox went three-for-three and won all six individual races on the road trip at Auburn and Georgia. She won the 200 freestyle in 1:45.28.
Olivia Anderson teamed with senior Jordan Surhoff to lead a one-two Longhorns finish in the 100 breaststroke. Anderson took the win in 1:01.85 while Surhoff followed in 1:01.98.
Rule, one of the nation’s top butterfliers, won the 200 butterfly in 1:56.03. Millard followed with another Longhorns’ win in the 50 freestyle at 22.53 and won the 100 in 48.83.
Freshman Alison Gibson swept the diving events and gave the Texas women a diving sweep for the week over Auburn and Georgia. The Austin native claimed the 1-meter event with 320.55
Rule finished off a sweep of the butterfly events and overtook Georgia’s Chelsea Britt in the 100 butterfly at 53.12.
Olivia Smoliga, a Rio Olympian, had Georgia’s lone victory, winning the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 52.84.
Chantal Van Landeghem was second in the 50 freestyle in 22.72 and the 100 freestyle in 49.41. Stephanie Peters took second in the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyles (4:47.96 and 9:49.88, respectively).
Other runner-up finishes for Georiga came from Meaghan Raab in the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.03) and the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.49); Kylie Stewart in the 200-yard backstroke (1:54.69); Emily Cameron in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:14.61); Britt in the 100-yard butterfly (53.87); and Megan Kingsley in the 200-yard butterfly (1:57.43).
In the men’s meet, No. 2 Texas (4-3) won the first 14 events and topped No. 7 Georgia 180-114.
The men’s meet featured six U.S. Olympians – for Texas, Townley Haas, Clark Smith and Jack Conger and Georgia’s Chase Kalisz, Jay Litherland and Gunnar Bentz — plus Singapore’s Olympic gold medalist in the 100 butterfly, Texas junior Joseph Schooling, and Canada’s Javier Acevedo, a Georgia freshman.
The Longhorns set the tone from the outset by way of their 200-yard medley relay. Sophomore John Shebat led off in 21.75 seconds before six-time NCAA champion senior Will Licon split 24.06 seconds on the breaststroke leg and put the Horns in the lead. Schooling out-split UGA’s Pace Clark by eight-tenths of a second with a 20.54 butterfly leg, and he gave way to All-America junior Brett Ringgold who anchored in 19.42 and delivered the win for Texas by over two seconds.
Smith, the American record holder in the 1,000 freestyle, blew away the field in the same event Saturday and won going away in 8:57.86.
Haas, the NCAA and American record holder in the 200 freestyle, won it in 1:35.69. Shebat added a win in the 100 backstroke at 46.85, and Licon claimed the 100 breaststroke at 52.67.
Conger, the American record holder in the 200 butterfly, won in 1:44.82.
All-America senior Mark Anderson swept the diving events. He won the 1-meter board with 384.08 points and secured the win on 3-meter with 423.53 points.
Ringgold added a win in the 100 freestyle in 43.95 to go with his runner-up swim in the 50 freestyle.
The 400-yard freestyle relay of Taylor Dale, Kalisz, Bentz and Acevedo claimed the Bulldogs’ lone win of the meet, finishing in 2:55.40.
Kalisz took second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 53.72 and the 200-yard breaststroke in 1:56.02. Dale was the runner-up in the 100-yard freestyle as he reached the wall in 44.07. Aidan Burns was second in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:10.47. Acevedo came in second in the 100-yard backstroke in 47.93. Bentz went 47.58 in the 100-yard butterfly for the runner-up spot. Jay Litherland stopped the clock in 3:47.05 for second in the 400-yard individual medley.
Texas sweeps Auburn
All-America senior Madisyn Cox swept her three individual events, and the fifth-ranked Longhorns claimed 12 of 16 events in a 156-139 victory over host No. 14 Auburn on Thursday.
Texas opened the meet with a tight win in the 200-yard medley relay, where All-America senior Tasija Karosas joined Cox, sophomore Remedy Rule and All-America junior Rebecca Millard to win in 1 minute, 39.93 seconds.
Auburn narrowed the Longhorns’ lead by winning the 1,000 freestyle, but Texas methodically stretched its lead and pulled away from the Tigers. Karosas added a win in the 200 freestyle at 1:46.86, and freshman Claire Adams claimed the 100 backstroke in 53.11. Cox put away her first win of the day in the 100 breaststroke at 1:00.35 while sophomore Olivia Anderson took second at 1:01.92.
All-America senior Will Licon won all three of his individual events, and No. 2 Texas (3-3) collected 10 wins on the day as the Longhorns posted 164-136 victory over host No. 12 Auburn Thursday.
Texas opened the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay, where All-America sophomore John Shebat joined Licon, Olympic gold medalist Joseph Schooling and All-America junior Brett Ringgold to secure the victory at 1 minute, 26.38 seconds.
All-America senior Clark Smith, the American record holder in the 1,000 freestyle, claimed top honors in the same event Thursday at 9:06.65 while All-America junior Jonathan Roberts followed in second at 9:12.23.
Sophomore Townley Haas won the 200 free in 1:36.02.
Licon notched the first of his three individual wins on the day in the 100 breaststroke, where he won in 53.39. Schooling, the NCAA record holder and two-time defending NCAA champion in the 200 butterfly, claimed the same event in 1:45.80.
Licon, the NCAA, American, U.S. Open, Big 12 and school record holder in the 200 breaststroke, won the same event Thursday in 1:57.37. The El Paso native is a two-time defending NCAA champion in the event.
Auburn’s Peter Holoda and Julie Meynen each swept the sprint freestyle events, with Zach Apple picking up a pair of runner-up finishes, but it was not enough for either team to overcome Texas.
Meynen and Holoda started the individual sprint domination by taking home top honors in the 50 free. Meynen touched in 22.75 to win the event by .01 seconds over Millard.
Meynen and Holoda both made it a sprint-free sweep with wins in the 100 free. Meynen touched in 49.89 while Holoda won in 43.82.
Texas A&M sweeps North Texas
The No. 7-ranked Texas A&M women’s swimming and diving team improved to 5-1 while opening the spring portion of its schedule with a 178-109.
Texas A&M won all 16 events and earned at least the top two spots in all 14 races in the pool. The Aggies opened the meet by controlling the 200-yard medley relay as they earned the top four times. The foursome of junior Lisa Bratton, senior Sycerika McMahon, freshman Golf Sapianchai, and sophomore Lexie Lupton led the sweep by claiming first place in 1:41.58.
Leading the way for the Aggies with two individual wins on the day was freshman Karling Hemstreet in the 200 free with a time of 1:49.82 and posting a top finishing time of 2:05.19 in the 200 back.
Texas A&M also dominated the 100 free, 100 breast, 100 fly, and 200 fly by claiming the top four spots in each. Junior Frankie Jonker touched first in the 100 breast with a time of 1:02.25 and sophomore Claire Rasmus led the 100 free finishing in 51.04. In the 100 fly, senior Ashley McGregor earned first place with a time of 55.39. Senior Sarah Gibson topped the leaderboard with time of 2:00.99 in the 200 fly.
Duke sweeps South Carolina
The Duke swimming and diving teams opened the spring portion of the 2016-17 campaign with a pair of victories over SEC foe South Carolina on Saturday. The 23rd-ranked Duke women came away with a 167-133 victory and the men topped the Gamecocks, 160.5-139.5 in a dual that came down to the final event of the meet.
Check out the full results here.
