The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Championships
Escobar captures 1,650 freestyle on final day of Big 12 Championships
03.01.2008 | Women's Swimming and Diving
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas sophomore Susana Escobar captured the 1,650 freestyle to highlight the final day for Texas Saturday evening at the 2008 Big 12 Conference Swimming and Diving Championships.
Texas A&M claimed the team title with 967 points and Texas placed second with 748 points. Missouri placed third with 519.5 points, and Kansas took fourth with 505.5 points. Iowa State placed fifth with 347 points, and Nebraska took sixth with 343 points. UT senior diver Mary Yarrison was named the Women's Diver of the Meet, and freshman Natalie Sacco was tabbed the Women's Co-Newcomer of the Meet.
Escobar recorded a new personal best in the 1,650 freestyle, touching in 16:18.86 to beat the NCAA automatic-qualifying mark by nearly five seconds. Sacco (Dallas, Texas) just missed the NCAA automatic-qualifying standard of 16:23.54 and took third in a new personal best of 16:24.06. Senior Macie Garrett (Nashville, Tenn.) placed seventh in 16:41.65, and senior Delia Huang (Austin, Texas) placed 10th at 16:59.22.
"It was exciting to see Susana have another great swim, and it sets her up for a great NCAA meet," UT coach Kim Brackin said. She and Hee-Jin Chang have been the leaders on this team at the bookends - in distance and the sprints."
Texas opened the meet with a pair of top-five showings in the 200 backstroke, as junior Rebecca Orr (Austin, Texas) took third in 1:58.00, and freshman Abbie Mahoney took fifth in 1:59.87. Junior Hee-Jin Chang (Seoul, South Korea) followed with a third-place showing in the 100 freestyle with a new personal best of 49.11. Freshman Brie Powers (Kalamazoo, Mich.) took fifth in 49.78.
After earning a NCAA automatic-qualifying mark in the morning prelims, junior Alison Soelter (Ulysses, Kan.) took third in the 200 breaststroke final, clocking 2:15.47. Soelter registered a new personal best in the preliminary round in 2:14.01.
Junior Jacqueline Martin-Lacey (Franklin, Tenn.) added a fourth-place finish in the 200 butterfly in 2:01.48, and sophomore Traci Van Matre touched in 2:02.28 for fifth place. Freshman Katie Hamilton (Melbourne Beach, Fla.) took seventh in 2:02.45.
Texas wrapped up the meet by taking second in the 400 freestyle relay, as Chang, Powers, freshman Adrienne Woods (Dexter, Mich.) and Escobar clocked a NCAA "B" cut mark of 3:21.53.
The Texas divers will compete in their NCAA Zone Diving Meet from March 14-16 in Houston.
