Texas A&M senior Sydney Pickrem won the 200-yard IM in dominant fashion and punched her ticket to the 2019 NCAA Championships with an automatic qualifying time of 1:53.88 to highlight the Aggies’ first day of the Art Adamson Invitational on Wednesday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.
In addition to Pickrem’s individual victory, the Aggies opened and closed the evening session with relay victories and tallied nearly a dozen NCAA “B” qualifying cuts. Texas A&M leads the women’s team race with 436 points, followed by LSU (210.5), Hawaii (184.5) and Boise State (182).
Head coach Steve Bultman said:
“We had some good swims. This is a meet we rest a little for, let them shave, and we definitely had some girls step up and compete. We had some good swims, good wins, and we feel like we got a good number of NCAA cuts. As the meet goes on, they should feel more and more rested, so we’re excited to see what’s coming up.”
200 Freestyle Relay
The Aggies opened the day one finals with a victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The foursome of junior Raena Eldridge, senior Claire Rasmus, junior Katie Portz and Pickrem touched first with a time of 1:30.25.
500 Freestyle
Texas A&M grabbed three of the top four spots in the Championship final with Rasmus placing second in 4:39.91, sophomore Haley Yelle taking third in 4:40.82 and Portz grabbing fourth in 4:43.29. All three times by the Aggie were NCAA “B” cuts.
200 IM
Texas A&M was dominant in the 200 IM with Aggies taking the top seven places in the Championship final. Leading the way was school and pool record holder Pickrem, who guaranteed her spot at the 2019 NCAA Championships with an “A” cut time of 1:53.88. Other Aggies tallying NCAA “B” cuts were Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo (2nd, 1:57.31), junior Anna Belousova (3rd, 1:58.31), sophomore Jing Quah (4th, 1:58.83), freshman Caroline Theil (5th, 1:58.95) and sophomore Camryn Toney (6th, 1:59.41).
50 Freestyle
Eldridge was the Aggies’ top finisher in the 50 freestyle with a runner-up effort in a time of 22.79. Earlier in the evening session, Eldridge led off the 200 free relay with a time of 22.76, which was an NCAA “B” cut.
400 Medley Relay
The Aggie foursome of Pickrem, Belousova, sophomore Taylor Pike and Rasmus closed out the night with an impressive victory in the 400 medley relay with a “B” cut time of 3:33.64.
In the men’s meet …
The Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving team broke a pair of school records and swept all five races on the first day of the Art Adamson Invitational on Wednesday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.
Breaking school records were the 200-yard free relay of freshman Shaine Casas, junior Adam Koster, freshman Clayton Bobo and junior Mike Thibert, and sophomore Felipe Rizzo in the 500 freestyle. Texas A&M leads the team race with 503 points, followed by LSU (197), Hawaii (159), Air Force (114), Incarnate Word (61) and SMU (50).
Head coach Jay Holmes said:
“It was a great start to our meet. This is a meet we often point to for the fall. There’s a lot of teams that come in and see us, and we sure like racing against them. We really got started right in the 200 free relay, and we also got a bunch of NCAA cuts and broke some school records. I couldn’t be more proud of the way we raced today.”
200 Freestyle Relay
The Aggie foursome of freshman Casas, junior Koster, freshman Bobo and junior Thibert were victorious in the 200-yard freestyle relay while shattering the school record of 1:16.81. It marked the first time that a Texas A&M relay had broken the 1:17 barrier and took down of the old standard of 1:17.19 set by Cory Bolleter, Jacob Gonzales, Koster and Turker Ayar at the 2017 NCAA Championships.
500 Freestyle
Rizzo won the 500 freestyle in school record fashion and keyed an Aggie sweep of the top five spots in the Championship final. Rizzo was victorious in 4:20.26, which bettered the old mark of 4:20.66 by Omar Enriquez in 2010. Rizzo was trailed by freshman Mark Theall (4:20.30), freshman Luke Stuart (4:21.68), freshman Mark Schnippenkoetter (4:21.82) and junior Jake Gibbons (4:23.86). The top four Aggies all tallied NCAA “B” cuts in the race.
200 IM
Casas flirted with the 200 IM school record while leading an Aggie sweep of the top five spots in the Championship final. The freshman from McAllen, Texas turned in a time of 1:43.06, behind only Brock Bonetti’s school record of 1:42.32, for the win and was trailed by senior Angel Martinez (1:44.79), junior Ben Walker (1:45.44), freshman Coco Bratanov (1:46.14) and freshman Alberto Gomez (1:46.48). All five Aggies tallied NCAA “B” cuts.
50 Freestyle
Texas A&M swept the top three spots in the 50 free with a trio of sub-20-second clockings. Koster grabbed the win in a time of 19.69, holding off freshman Bobo by .03 of a second (19.72). Thibert took the bronze in a time of 19.76.
400 Medley Relay
The Aggies closed out the night with a dominating win in the 400-yard medley relay. The foursome of Casas, Walker, Martinez and Koster held a four-second advantage over the runner-ups with a winning time of 3:05.70, which makes them the second-fastest relay in school history.
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