The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Arizona & SMU
No. 5 Women’s Swimming and Diving Preview: No. 14 Arizona and SMU
01.25.2015 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Fifth-ranked Longhorns return home for bi-annual, two-day meet with the Wildcats and Mustangs.
WHAT: Nine-time national champion No. 5 Texas (6-2) returns home this week to host No. 14 Arizona and SMU for a two-day, double-dual meet.
WHEN/WHERE
#5 Texas vs. No. 14 Arizona and SMU
Friday, Jan. 30 – 5 p.m. CT
Saturday, Jan. 31 – 10 a.m. CT
Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center – Austin, Texas (admission is free)
LIVE RESULTS: http://sidearmstats.com/texas/swim/index.htm
TELEVISION: Longhorn Network will air live coverage of swimming Friday evening (5-7 p.m. CT) and tape-delayed coverage of diving Friday (7-8 p.m. CT). LHN picks up live coverage of swimming again on Saturday at 10 a.m. CT. The telecasts will be available to LHN subscribers on the WatchESPN app, as well.
QUICK HITS
- Texas ranks No. 5 in the Jan. 15 release of the CSCAA NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving team poll. The Longhorns boast dual-meet wins at No. 1 California, No. 3 Stanford, No. 9 Michigan and No. 10 Auburn in addition to neutral-site wins over No. 14 Indiana and No. 19 Louisville. UT's two losses came at the hands of No. 1 Georgia (tied for No. 1 with Cal) and No. 4 Texas A&M.
- Senior Gretchen Jaques ranks No. 2 nationally in the 100-yard breaststroke (58.78) and No. 5 in the 200 breaststroke. Jaques and former NCAA champion Laura Sogar are the only Longhorns ever to clear 59 seconds in the 100 breast.
- Senior Kaitlin Pawlowicz is the reigning Big 12 Swimmer of the Week after producing strong swims on UT's road trip to Auburn and Georgia. At the Texas Invite, Pawlowicz became the first Longhorn in nearly 30 years to break 16 minutes in the 1,650 freestyle.
- Senior Emma Ivory-Ganja is the reigning Big 12 Diver of the Week. Ivory-Ganja was one of 15 UT student-athletes to earn a 4.0 GPA last fall.
- Senior Kelsey LeNeave boasts top-15 national marks in the 100 butterfly (13th, 52.41) and the 200 butterfly (11th, 1:55.76)
SWIMMING SCHEDULE (women first, men second for all events)
Friday, Jan. 30
3:15 p.m. CT
1,000 freestyle
5:00 p.m. CT
200 free relay
15 minute break
100 free
200 back
200 breast
100 fly
400 IM
15 minute break
400 medley relay
Saturday, Jan. 31
10 a.m. CT
200 medley relay
500 freestyle
15 minute break
200 free
100 back
100 breast
200 fly
50 free
200 IM
15 minute break
400 free relay
DIVING SCHEDULE
Friday, Jan. 30
2:30 p.m.
Men's 1-meter
3:47 p.m.
Women's 3-meter
4:54 p.m.
Men's 3-meter
6:01 p.m.
Women's 1-meter
Saturday, Jan. 31
10 a.m.
Men's and women's platform
LAST MEETINGS vs. ARIZONA AND SMU
Texas defeated Arizona by a 196-157 count on Feb. 1, 2014 in Tucson. The Longhorns dealt SMU a 228-66 defeat on Feb. 1, 2013 in Austin.
LAST TIME OUT
Texas split its season-opening road swing at Southeastern Conference foes No. 12 Auburn and No. 2 Georgia. The Horns handily defeated Auburn (Jan. 8) by a 176-124 and fell to Georgia (Jan. 10), 163.5-136.5.
PAWLOWICZ, IVORY-GANJA EARN BIG 12 HONORS
The Big 12 Conference announced (Jan. 21) the selection of senior Kaitlin Pawlowicz as the league's Women's Swimmer of the Week and senior Emma Ivory-Ganja as the Big 12 Women's Diver of the Week. It marked Pawlowicz's second career honor and the third such honor in a row for Ivory-Ganja.
Pawlowicz produced arguably one of the top swims in college swimming this season when she defeated the nation's top-two swimmers in the 1000-yard freestyle – Georgia's Amber McDermott (No. 1) and Brittany MacLean (No. 2) – at their home pool, where UGA hasn't lost a meet since 1995. Pawlowicz assumed the lead at the 450-yard mark, pulled away to victory in 9:43.82 and outdistanced McDermott by nearly three seconds. She also swept the distance events in the win at Auburn.
Ivory-Ganja has won at least one event in each of the Longhorns' eight dual meets this season. The 2014 NCAA runner-up on platform swept the springboards in UT's win at Auburn and added a three-meter win at Georgia. Ivory-Ganja's sweep at Auburn was her second of the season to go with her sweep at California last fall.
LONGHORNS IMPRESS AT TEXAS INVITE
Texas produced strong swims at their annual Texas Invitational last month (Dec. 4-6) at UT's Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Texas qualified its 200 free and 400 medley relays for the NCAA Championships on the first day of the Invite. Day two saw senior Gretchen Jaques become the second Longhorn ever to clear 59 seconds in the breaststroke. Jaques clocked 58.94 in prelims and won the event in the finals at 58.78, good for a NCAA automatic-qualifying cut.
Senior Kaitlin Pawlowicz opened day three of the Invite with an historic swim and became the first Longhorn in early 30 years to clear 16 minutes in the 1,650 freestyle. She clipped nearly 10 seconds off of her personal best and placed third in the event at 15:57.37. The swim ranked her as the third-fastest Longhorn ever in the event.
Redshirt senior Sarah Denninghoff nearly claimed the school record in the 200 backstroke and won the event in 1:52.61. Senior Kelsey LeNeave won the 200 butterfly in a personal-best time of 1:55.76.
Below is a complete listing of where the Longhorn stack up among the top-25 nationally:
Top-25 National Times: Individual Events
50 Freestyle
T22. Gretchen Jaques – 22.37
500 Freestyle
22. Kaitlin Pawlowicz – 4:42.51
1000 Freestyle
5. Kaitlin Pawlowicz – 9:43.82
1,650 Freestyle
7. Kaitlin Pawlowicz – 15:57.37
100 Backstroke
T9. Sarah Denninghoff – 52.06
200 Backstroke
8. Sarah Denninghoff – 1:52.61
100 Breaststroke
2. Gretchen Jaques – 58.78
200 Breaststroke
5. Gretchen Jaques – 2:08.60
100 Butterfly
13. Kelsey LeNeave – 52.41
200 Butterfly
11. Kelsey LeNeave – 1:55.76
400 IM
18. Kaitlin Pawlowicz - 4:10.82
COX RETURNS FROM FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
All-America sophomore Madisyn Cox rejoined the team after missing last month's Texas Invitational to compete for the United States at the FINA Short Course World Championships.
The Lubbock native helped the Americans to fifth place in the 800m freestyle relay at the bi-annual meet. The meet marked Cox's first swim in an international event for the United States.
DIVERS CAP PRODUCTIVE FALL IN AUSTIN AND COLUMBUS
The Texas divers swept all three boards at November's UT Diving Invite before producing solid performances last month at the USA Diving Winter National Championships in Columbus, Ohio.
Senior Emma Ivory-Ganja kicked off the UT Diving Invite with a victory on the three-meter board and logged a personal best of 395.40 points. Junior Meghan Houston won her second consecutive one-meter title and totaled 304.25 points. Sophomore Murphy Bromberg completed the Longhorns' sweep with 360.70 points in the platform event.
Ivory-Ganja and Bromberg teamed up to place second in the platform synchro finals at the USA Diving Winter Nationals. Bromberg took second place in the individual platform event, while Ivory-Ganja added an eighth-place finish in the three-meter final with 834 points.
MORE ON THE LONGHORNS
- Texas returns 20 swimmers and divers, including eight All-Americans, from the 2013-14 squad that won the Big 12 Championship and placed ninth at the NCAA Championships.
- Senior diver Emma Ivory-Ganja, now in her second season at Texas after transferring from UCLA, earned All-America honors on all three boards at the 2014 NCAA Championships. Ivory-Ganja was the NCAA runner-up on platform and placed seventh in the three-meter event at the NCAA meet. Sophomore Murphy Bromberg joins Ivory-Ganja as an All-American on three-meter last season.
- Sophomore swimmer Madisyn Cox earned honorable mention All-America honors as a freshman in the 200 IM and won her first Big 12 title in that event last February.
- Senior swimmer Sarah Denninghoff returns after sitting out last season as a medical redshirt. The 13-time All-American placed eighth in the 200 backstroke at the 2013 NCAA Championships in her first season as a Longhorn after transferring from Arizona.
- Versatile senior swimmer Gretchen Jaques gives Texas options in the sprint breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle events. The Californian joined current teammate Brynne Wong and former teammates Lily Moldenhauer and Ellen Lobb to tie the school record and place sixth in the 200 medley relay last season at the NCAA Championships. Jaques also scored individually last season in the 100 breaststroke.
- Sophomore swimmer Tasija Karosas joined teammate Kelsey LeNeave to help Texas place ninth in the 800 freestyle relay at the NCAA Championships. Karosas won her first Big 12 title last March with a personal best of 1:53.49 in the 200 backstroke. LeNeave scored her first individual points at an NCAA Championship last March with her 16th-place finish in the 200 freestyle.
- Three-time NCAA Championships qualifier Kaitlin Pawlowicz returns after posting top-three finishes in the 500 freestyle and the 400 IM at 2014 Big 12 Championships.
- Senior swimmer Skylar Smith is a former Big 12 champion in the 200 IM who has qualified for two NCAA Championship meets.
Players Mentioned
