The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Championships
Women's Swimming and Diving sweeps relays, adds school record on day one of Big 12 Championships
02.27.2013 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 27, 2013
AUSTIN, Texas - A pair of victories and a school record highlighted day one for the Longhorns Wednesday at the Big 12 Championships at UT's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Texas leads the competition through the opening night with 80 points. West Virginia sits in second with 68 points, while TCU holds third place with 62 points. Iowa State is in fourth place with 60 points, and Kansas sits in fifth place with 30 points.
Texas kicked off the meet with its school record in the 200-yard medley relay, as the Longhorns blew away the field in 1 minute, 36.69 seconds, which easily cleared the NCAA automatic-qualifying mark. Junior Sarah Denninghoff led off in 24.41 before senior Laura Sogar split 26.90 on the breaststroke. Senior Kelsey Amundsen picked up the butterfly in 23.48 before junior Ellen Lobb anchored in 21.90. The performance broke the previous school mark of 1:36.98 set by Lily Moldenhauer, Sogar, Amundsen and Bethany Adams at the 2011 Big 12 Championships.
Texas capped the evening with a victory in the 800 freestyle relay, as the Longhorns posted the fifth-fastest mark in school history in 7:01.61, an NCAA Championship-qualifying mark. Junior Samantha Tucker led off in 1:44.74 before classmate Alex Hooper split 1:46.02 on the second leg. Sophomore Kelsey LeNeave split 1:45.35 on the third leg before Denninghoff anchored in 1:45.50.
Day two of the Big 12 Championships begins Thursday at 10 a.m. Central.
POST-MEET COMMENTS
Texas head coach Carol Capitani
On the school record-setting 200 medley relay: I'm really proud. We had an "A" and a "B" relay up and both teams really did well. We had eight fast splits. It's always nice to have a school record. I'm really proud of that. I think we kind of set it up that way all throughout the meet. We couldn't be happier.
I didn't know what to expect. Obviously we're always hoping to do the best we've ever done. I just want them to race hard, race against the clock, race against themselves. It makes me pretty proud that they started off the event with a school record. Not all of our NCAA kids are rested or shaved, so I think that's something to look forward to also with the NCAAs they can go faster. And they know that.
On the 800 freestyle relay victory: I am happy with it. That's the best [junior] Alex [Hooper] has ever done. That's the best [sophomore] Kelsey [LeNeave] has ever done. [Junior] Sam's [Tucker] best time this year. I think that's faster than what she went at Winter Nationals. I'd like to get that 800 free relay record at some point, too. This team lost some pretty big horses last year from that relay.
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