The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Arizona
No. 4 Women’s Swimming and Diving Preview: No. 14 Arizona
01.28.2016 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Longhorns continue challenging dual-meet slate this weekend in annual meet against Arizona.
WHAT: After a three-week break from dual-meet competition, nine-time national champion No. 4 Texas (7-2) heads west this weekend for its annual two-day dual meet against No. 14 Arizona.
DATES/TIMES
Friday, Jan. 29 – 4 p.m. MST (5 p.m. CT)
Saturday, Jan. 30 – 11 a.m. MST (Noon CT)
Friday's competition will be a standard 16-event dual meet while Saturday's competition will be an unscored meet featuring unconventional events.
WHERE
Hillenbrand Aquatic Center – Tucson, Arizona
LAST MEETING
Texas defeated Arizona by a 213-159 count on Jan. 30-31, 2015 in Austin.
LAST TIME OUT
Texas contested its annual meets against Auburn and Georgia and came away with a split. The Longhorns dealt then-No. 9 Auburn a 171-121 defeat (Jan. 7) before dropping a close one to then-No. 2 Georgia, 155-145 (Jan. 9). The Bulldogs have since climbed to No. 1 in the CSCAA team poll.
PRE-MEET COMMENTS
Texas head coach Carol Capitani
It gets exciting this time of year. It's not like we have a ton of rivals, but Arizona is a well-coached team, and they've got some talent, for sure. We can't just waltz in there to win the meet. We've got to race tough. Our focus is getting narrowed (at this time of year). We only have two dual meets left so now's the time when you fine-tune and decide the last little pieces we need to work on before we get to championship season. We want to go out there and get some work done, get in two good days of racing. Swim at night on Friday and come back and swim fast the next day. That's always important, and it's good for any team. This is a good chance for our kids to swim outside and it will present a different challenge.
KAROSAS SMASHES SCHOOL, BIG 12 RECORDS AT TEXAS INVITATIONAL
All-America junior Tasija Karosas chopped over two seconds off of the school record and handily eclipsed the Big 12 record in the 200-yard backstroke in her final swim of last month's Texas Invitational.
Karosas began the meet as the third-fastest Longhorn ever in the 200 backstroke, but her breakthrough mark of 1:50.49 obliterated the Big 12 record of 1:51.54 set by Missouri's Dominique Bouchard at the 2011 Big 12 Championships.
Karosas' swim eclipsed the school mark of 1:52.58 set by two-time U.S. Olympian Kathleen Hersey at the 2009 Big 12 Championships. Her 1:50.49 ranks second nationally.
Karosas earned honorable mention All-America honors last season in the 100 and 200 backstroke events.
COX POSTS TOP NATIONAL TIME AT TEXAS INVITATIONAL
All-America junior Madisyn Cox registered the nation's top time in the 200 individual medley and added two additional top-five national marks last month at the Texas Invitational.
Cox handily won the event at the Texas Invite in 1:54.29, good for the nation's top time of the season and the No. 3 mark in school history. The Lubbock native also posted the nation's No. 4 time in the 400 IM (4:06.55) and the No. 5 national mark in the 200 breaststroke (2:07.86).
The 2015 Big 12 Swimmer of the Year is the only returning college swimmer to place among the top eight in both the 200 and 400 individual medleys at the 2015 NCAA Championships. Cox was a silver medalist for the U.S. in the 200m individual medley last summer at the World University Games.
MILLARD LEADS POTENT SPRINT GROUP
Sophomore Rebecca Millard leads a young but potent sprint group midway through the 2015-16 season. The Californian posted the nation's No. 10 time in the 100 freestyle (48.41) and the No. 18 national mark in the 50 freestyle (22.26) at the Texas Invitational.
Millard teamed up with classmates Mimi Schneider and Sam Sutton in addition to freshman Brooke Hansen to post an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark in the 200 freestyle relay at the Texas Invite. The quartet finished in 1:28.94 and edged Arizona by one one-hundredth of a second.
Millard joined Hansen, Cox and Karosas to post an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark in the 400 freestyle relay (3:14.29) at the Texas Invite.
FRESHMEN MAKING IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Texas welcomed an 11-member freshman class (8 swimmers, 3 divers) that has added considerable speed and depth to what was an already formidable team.
Joanna Evans of The Bahamas parlayed a productive summer of international swimming into a strong start in her first semester of college. Evans posted the nation's No. 4 time in the 1,000 freestyle (9:45.10) at North Carolina, and she added the nation's No. 7 mark in the 1,650 freestyle (16:07.78) at the Texas Invitational.
Evans placed sixth in the 800m freestyle for The Bahamas last summer at the Pan American Games in Toronto.
Austin native Quinn Carrozza holds the nation's No. 9 time in the 200 backstroke (1:53.47) in addition to the 22nd mark in the 200 freestyle (1:45.83), the No. 24 time in the 500 freestyle (4:42.81) and the 25th national mark in the 1,000 freestyle (9:57.22).
Remedy Rule clocked the nation's ninth-fastest mark in the 200 butterfly (1:55.89) at the Texas Invite, while Olivia Anderson registered the No. 16 national mark in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.21).
Texas' diving newcomers also have made their mark. Meghan O'Brien, the younger sister of UT men's diver Sean O'Brien, was recognized as a Big 12 Diver of the Week.
MORE ON THE LONGHORNS
- Texas returns 16 swimmers and divers, including six All-Americans, from the 2014-15 squad that swept the Big 12 Championship and placed seventh at the NCAA Championships. It marked the top NCAA team finish at Texas for head coach Carol Capitani, who begins her fourth season with the Longhorns.
- Versatile All-America junior swimmer Madisyn Cox returns as one of the nation's premier individual medley swimmers. The Lubbock native is the only returning swimmer in the nation to place among the top-eight in both the 200 and 400 IM at the 2015 NCAA Championships. She joined former Louisville swimmer Tanja Kylliainen as the only swimmers to complete the feat last season.
- Cox, the 2015 Big 12 Swimmer of the Year, won bronze in the 400 IM and silver in the 200 IM at the USA Swimming National Championships in August. She won silver for the United States in the 200 IM over the summer at the World University Games. Cox was selected as the Big 12 Women's Swimmer of the Week (Oct. 21) after posting the nation's fourth-fastest time in the 400 IM (4:15.00), the No. 5 mark nationally in the 200 freestyle (1:47.93) and the No. 6 national mark in the 200 breaststroke (2:12.83).
- Junior All-America swimmer Tasija Karosas ranks as the second-fastest Longhorn ever in the 100 backstroke (51.76) and the third-fastest in the 200 backstroke following her strong performances at the 2015 NCAA Championships. Karosas provides Texas additional depth in the 200 IM and the 200 freestyle.
- Junior All-America swimmer Brynne Wong has been a mainstay on Texas' sprint relays, and her versatility as a sprint freestyle and butterfly swimmer makes her a valuable contributor on the Longhorns' medley relays.
- Sophomore swimmers Rebecca Millard and Mimi Schneider return as All-Americans in the 200 freestyle and medley relays.
- Texas welcomes a dynamic group of freshmen that ranks as the nation's No. 4 recruiting class by SwimSwam.com. The class includes eight swimmers and three divers. UT also welcomes junior Maggie D'Innocenzo, who swam her first two seasons at USC. D'Innocenzo is the younger sister of former Texas men's swimmer Nick D'Innocenzo.
Players Mentioned
