2014 Big 12 Championships Night 1: Conger makes big splash in Big 12 debut

Big 12 Men

• Dates: Wednesday, February 26th – Saturday, March 1st (Co-Ed)
• Location: Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, University of Texas (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Texas (17x) (links to each days results here)
• Live Results
  
• Live Video (If available): 
  
• Championship Central

Big 12 Women

• Dates: Wednesday, February 26th – Saturday, March 1st (Co-Ed)
• Location: Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, University of Texas (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Texas (links to each days results here)
• Live Results
  
• Live Video (If available): 
  
• Championship Central

Weekend #2 of the major conference championships is underway!  Follow along live as the Longhorns look for a day one sweep, while the rest of the conference looks to play the role of spoiler.

Night 1 schedule:
Women’s 200 medley relay
Men’s 200 medley relay
Women’s 1m diving
Men’s 1m diving
Women’s 800 free relay
Men’s 800 free relay

Women’s 200 Medley Relay

The Longhorn women paced the event easily, going 1:37.16 for an “A” cut. The big splits came from the seniors on the ends: Lily Moldenhauer led off in 24.4 on backstroke, while Ellen Lobb anchored the team with a strong 21.4. In the middle were junior Gretchen Jaques (27.4 breast) and freshman Brynne Wong (23.87).

That time for Texas is faster than they went at NCAAs last year, although not better than their Big 12 championship time from that year. The hope for the Longhorns is probably that they can find more time to drop when pushed, as they won this race by three and a half seconds with pretty safe exchanges.

West Virginia touched out Kansas for second place 1:40.41 to 1:40.63. The Jayhawks actually led going into the final leg, but West Virginia anchor Jaimee Gillmore split 22.5 to run her opponents down for the win. Also fast on that WVU relay was breaststroker Jenelle Zee, who put up a 27.2.

Men’s 200 Medley Relay

The Texas men followed suit, winning their 200 medley relay with a 1:24.86 that puts them right in the thick of things nationally at the moment. Outside of NC State, who ripped off a fast 1:23.7 earlier tonight, the rest of the top teams in the nation have been 1:24-mid-to-high. The key piece on Texas’s relay was freshman Jack Conger, who put up an outstanding 20.1 split swimming butterfly and should have a shot to be sub-20 come NCAAs. Kip Darmody led off in 21.4, which is a great split, and was fastest in the field, just edging West Virginia’s Bryce Bohman. In addition, freestyler John Murray was knocking on the door of an 18 second split with a 19.0 for Texas. Imri Ganiel rounded out the team, swimming breaststroke in 24.20.

Bohman’s West Virginia Mountaineers took second in 1:26.59 – Bohman was 21.4 and anchor Tim Squires put up a 19.2. TCU went 1:28.13 for third in the three-team men’s conference.

Men’s 1-Meter Diving

Texas swept the top 6 spots in diving, led by freshman Mike Hixon, who scored 429.00 points. His senior teammate Will Chandler joined him over 400 points, taking second with a 404.20.

Sophomores Sean O’Brien and Cory Bowersox dueled for third, with O’Brien triumphing 390.70 to 388.20, and freshman Mark Anderson wasn’t far behind with 384.55. Will McCraney rounded out the Texas sweep before West Virginia finally got on the board with senior Liam McLaughlin.

Women’s 800 Free Relay

The Longhorn women went 7:01.97 in winning their second relay of the night; that’s about three-tenths off what they went to win the event a year ago. Of course, that Texas relay gained  three seconds to fall out of the top 8 at NCAAs, so if these Longhorns can hit their best swimming in the final meet, they’ll ultimately go down as more successful. Kelsey Leneave was 1:44.5 for the fastest split of the field, narrowly edging anchor Sam Tucker‘s 1:44.8. In addition, senior Alex Hooper led off in 1:46.1 to give the Longhorns a lead, and freshman Madisyn Cox was 1:46.39 to round out the relay.

Kansas took second place in a school-record 7:11.99. After electing to not use star butterflyer Chelsie Miller on the medley relay, Kansas put her on this one and got a strong 1:47.8. That was their second-fastest split, after leadoff leg Morgan Sharp‘s 1:47.2. They were joined by a pair of 1:48s, sophomore Haley Molden and freshman Allison Merecka.

Iowa State ended up third in 7:18.24, led by a 1:48.13 from lead0ff swimmer and freshman Karyl Clarete.

Men’s 800 Free Relay

Texas completed a sweep of the night with a 6:17.24 win in the 800 free relay. The clear highlight of that team was freshman Jack Conger, who led off in a lifetime-best 1:33.64 swimming the back half of a tough double. He’s been proving to be everything Texas expected when they snagged him in recruiting last offseason, and this is just another example of his outstanding versatility and endurance.

Also quick on that relay was anchor Clay Youngquist, who split a 1:33.2. In between those two were Sam Lewis (1:36.03) and Kip Darmody (1:34.36 swimming his own back-to-back event combo).

West Virginia took second with a 6:26.87 with remarkably consistent splitting. Ross Glegg, Nathan Cobbe and Daeton Davenport were all 1:36s, with Glegg pulling his on the leadoff leg. TCU wound up third in 6:36.04.