By Dan D’Addona.
The final night of the Art Adamson Invitational at Texas A&M started with a bang as Katie Ledecky set an American record in the 1,650 freestyle.
The Stanford sophomore won the race in 15:03.31, breaking her own mark of 15:03.92 set Nov. 20, 2016. Phoebe Hines of Hawaii finished second in 15:57.76.
But it was the host Aggies that came away with the team hardware, scoring 1,273.5 points to win the meet. Stanford was second (1,053), followed by Arizona State (375), Arkansas (281), Hawaii (262), Utah (255), LSU (224), Boise State (209), SMU (86.5) and Incarnate Word (11).
Lisa Bratton got the Aggies on the board with a win in the 200 backstroke (1:50.10). Stanford’s Janet Hu (1:50.66), Ally Howe (1:51.25) and Erin Voss (1:53.51) went 2-3-4 ahead of Sydney Pickrem (1:54.46). Bratton and Hu earned NCAA “A” cuts.
Beryl Gastaldello (47.77) and Claire Rasmus (48.41) went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle in “B: cuts for the Aggies. Pickrem (2:05.96) and Bethany Galat (2:05.96) went 1-2 in the 200 breaststroke, both with “A” cuts.
Stanford sophomore Katie Drabot (1:51.74) topped teammate Ella Eastin (1:52.03) to win the 200 butterfly, both “A” cuts. Galat was third (1:55.01).
Hu, Ledecky, Eastin and Lauren Pitzer won the 400 freestyle relay (3:11.59) ahead of A&M’s Katie Portz, Rasmus, Kristin Malone and Gastaldello (3:14.38).
In the men’s meet, the Aggies also defended their home pool scoring 1,338 points to win the meet. Utah was second (898), followed by LSU (569.5), Air Force (423), Hawaii (417), Incarnate Word (183), SMU (114.5) and Stanford (84).
Texas A&M’s Brock Bonetti won the 200 backstroke (1:40.56). Jake Gibbons won the 1,650 freestyle (15;18.95). Mauro Castillo Luna won the 200 breaststroke (1:54.14), leading a 1-2-3-4 finish with Jonathan Tybur (1:55.63), Tanner Olson (1:55.65) and Austin Overdam (1:56.60).
Adam Koster, Mike Thibert, Connor Long and Jose Martinez won the 400 freestyle relay (2:53.87) for the Aggies.
Martinez won the 200 butterfly (1:42.08) ahead of teammate Bonetti (1:42.17), both with “B” cuts.
Utah’s Liam O’Haimhirgin won the 100 freestyle (43.30) ahead of Air Force’s Steffen Mount (43.54).
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Congratulations