The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
USA Swimming AT&T Winter National Championships
Women's Swimming posts three top-five finishes at AT&T Winter Nationals
11.29.2012 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Nov. 29, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas logged three top-five finishes on a productive opening day of the USA Swimming AT&T Winter National Championships at UT's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Texas opened the evening by taking second in the 200-yard freestyle relay, as the quartet of junior Ellen Lobb, senior Kelsey Amundsen, sophomore Gretchen Jaques and senior Bethany Adams posted a NCAA qualifying mark of 1 minute, 29.14 seconds.
The Longhorns sent two swimmers to the 500 freestyle finals, as sophomore Kelsey LeNeave paced Texas by taking fifth in 4:43.31, well under the NCAA "B" qualifying standard. LeNeave posted a personal best of 4:42.88 in the morning preliminary round. Sophomore Kaitlin Pawlowicz took eighth in the championship final in 4:45.74.
UT sent two Longhorns to the 200 IM consolation final, where senior Laura Sogar took fourth in 1:58.75. Jaques placed sixth in 1:59.95, and Texas-Ex Karlee Bispo won the consolation final in 1:56.94. Sophomore Skylar Smith produced a solid time of 1:57.66 to win the 200 IM "C" final.
"Skylar had a great IM, and Gretchen had a lot on her plate tonight and produced a good IM anyway," UT head coach Carol Capitani said.
Lobb qualified for the 50 freestyle final and took seventh in 22.31 after clocking 22.44 in the morning prelims. Amundsen took third in the consolation final in 22.71, while Jaques placed fourth in 22.72. Adams won the "C" final in 22.57, and Bispo took third in 22.75.
Texas capped the night by taking third in the 400 medley relay (3:33.50) with strong splits from each contributor. Junior Sarah Denninghoff led off in 52.55 before Sogar split 58.37 on the breaststroke leg. Jaques picked up the butterfly in 53.71 while Amundsen anchored in 48.87.
