The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Championships
Women's Swimming & Diving in eighth at NCAA Championships
03.15.2012 | Women's Swimming and Diving
March 15, 2012
NCAA Day One Results 
AUBURN, Ala. - After the opening day of the NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, the University of Texas stands in eighth place with 74 points.
"The first day can be challenging and we saw teams struggle with that first morning session and come back and get better," said head coach Kim Brackin. "I am proud of how our team handled the first day."
Six individuals combined for nine All-America honors on day one. Karlee Bispo picked up three All-American selections with the 200 freestyle relay, 200 IM and 400 medley relay. Kelsey Amundsen was also on both relays as well as earning honorable mention All-America honors in the 50 freestyle. Bethany Adams, Ellen Lobb, Lily Moldenhauer, and Laura Sogar all received All-American honors on relay teams.
The 200 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay accounted for 56 of the 74 points on the day. The Longhorns' benefited from both relay units reaching the A finals with their preliminary swims.
"Relays are such an important part of this meet and the women on this team understand that it is about the team's performance and not individual performances," said Brackin. "We saw that this morning and again tonight."
Coming off the school record-breaking time in the prelim round, the Longhorns' 200 freestyle relay swam another fast time in the evening to finish fourth overall and gain 30 team points. Bispo, Adams, Lobb and Amundsen combined for a time of 1:27.81 with both Lobb and Amundsen posting times under 22.00 on their relay legs.
"I knew they were capable of that and it certainly gave a spark to the team," said Brackin. "Amundsen and Bispo both benefited from that and a lot of our girls swam personal bests, which doesn't happen a lot at this meet."
"I surprised myself a little as I am used to going first on that relay but the other three girls going in front of me really excited me today," said Amundsen. "I knew it was going to be there for me so I didn't force it and just had fun with it."
The four swimmers broke their own school record with a 1:27.65 in the prelims. Their previous record time was 1:28.06 set at last year's NCAA Championships.
"Starting off this morning with four really solid splits and breaking the school record was really exciting," said Bispo. "Since I have been here we have never had the 400 medley relay in the top eight so making the A final it both relays was exciting. It set the momentum for the rest of the team."
The day was capped off by a sixth-place finish in the 400 medley relay. Moldenhauer came out of the gate quickly with a time of 52.25 on the opening leg of the relay. Her time and fast swims by Sogar, Amundsen and Bispo helped the four swimmers improve their prelim time by almost one full second as they clocked out at 3:31.20.
Bispo picked up an additional 15 points by placing fourth in the 200 IM. She improved by more than one second from her prelims time to post her top time of the year at 1:54.56. It is the fourth fastest time in school history, under two seconds off her school record time of 1:52.71. The race was one of the fastest in NCAA history with the top two clocking times faster than the previous NCAA record.
Amundsen swam in the consolation B final of the 50 freestyle. She posted a time of 22.50 for sixth place in the heat and 14th overall. Her performance picked up three team points for UT.
"Before the meet started I told Kim and the team that I am a big self-momentum person," said Amundsen. "The first relay got me off to a great start and hopefully I can build off that the rest of the week."
In the 1-meter diving event, juniors Shelby Cullinan and Diana Wilcox were unable to make the final rounds but are gearing up for their stronger events, the 3-meter and platform, on Friday and Saturday. Wilcox ended up 29th overall with 265.70 points while Cullinan finished with 255.40 points for 33rd.
"We put them in the 1-meter contest as sort of a dress rehearsal for them to hear their name announced and hear that silence before they dive because they need to be used to that," said Scoggin. "It also gets rid of some of those pre-meet jitters so they can relax."
Both Cullinan and Wilcox qualified for the NCAAs with their performances in the 3-meter and platform events at the NCAA Zone D Diving Meet in Iowa City, Iowa last weekend.
"Diana and Shelby know that as the meet progresses and the height gets higher both of them tend to shine more with the 3-meter and 10-meter platform," said diving coach Matt Scoggin. "They both missed one dive today but competed real well and that is a good sign for the next two days."
Friday's action will start at 11 a.m. for the prelims and at 7 p.m. for the finals. The events taking place on the second day of the meet will be the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 800 freestyle relay and 3-meter diving.
