Texas A&M Women Sweep North Texas To Kickstart 2017

MEET FACTS

• Full Results
• College Station, Texas
• Wednesday, January 11th
• 25 yards
• Texas A&M 178, North Texas 109

After having their initial 2017 spring opener against Auburn cancelled due to weather issues, the Aggie women officially got the new year underway with a blowout win over North Texas.

Texas A&M won all 16 events, including having 13 different women claim an individual event.

The only multi-event winner was freshman Karling Hemstreet, who came out victorious in the 200 free (1:49.82) and 200 back (2:05.19). The only other freshman who came away with an individual win was diver Kaley Batten, who put up a score of 292.42 to take the 1-meter diving event.

Sycerika McMahon collected an individual win in the 500 free to go along with a pair of wins in the 200 free and medley relays. Lisa Bratton (400 IM), Beryl Gastaldello (50 free) and Lexie Lupton (100 back) also brought home multiple victories with one individual win and one relay win each.

Leading the way for the Mean Green was Natalia Kwiatkowska, who put up a pair of podium finishes placing 2nd in the 500 free and 3rd in the 1000.

Other top finishes for North Texas included Jowita Sienczyk placing 3rd in the 100 back, Ash Stone placing 2nd in the 200 back, and Brittany Thurstin taking 3rd in the 50 free.

PRESS RELEASES

Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The No. 7-ranked Texas A&M women’s swimming and diving team improved to 5-1 while opening the spring portion of its schedule with a 178-109 clean sweep over North Texas on Wednesday at the Student Recreation Center.

“We were disappointed that the (original spring opener) Auburn meet was cancelled, but it was good to get back in race mode again,” head coach Steve Bultman said following the meet. “We have some big meets coming up. We had a couple of really good swims, so I was real pleased. I think that the Arena Pro Swim meet in Austin this weekend will be good for us. It is something that we do every year to go swim some long course (meters) meets and help them get ready for international competitions. Next week we finish up our dual meet season with SMU and LSU, with LSU being our senior recognition night.”

Texas A&M won all 16 events and earned at least the top two spots in all 14 races in the pool. The Aggies opened the meet by controlling the 200-yard medley relay as they earned the top four times. The foursome of junior Lisa Bratton, senior Sycerika McMahon, freshman Golf Sapianchai, and sophomore Lexie Lupton led the sweep by claiming first place in 1:41.58.

Leading the way for the Aggies with two individual wins on the day was freshman Karling Hemstreet in the 200 free with a time of 1:49.82 and posting a top finishing time of 2:05.19 in the 200 back.

Texas A&M also dominated the 100 free, 100 breast, 100 fly, and 200 fly by claiming the top four spots in each. Junior Frankie Jonker touched first in the 100 breast with a time of 1:02.25 and sophomore Claire Rasmus led the 100 free finishing in 51.04. In the 100 fly, senior Ashley McGregor earned first place with a time of 55.39.  Senior Sarah Gibson topped the leaderboard with time of 2:00.99 in the 200 fly.

Logging other individual victories for the Aggies were sophomores Tiffany Futscher in the 1000 free (10:13.24) and Lupton in the 100 back (56.85). Also earning single wins were Bratton in the 400 IM in 4:15.83 and McMahon in the 500 free (4:51.88). Juniors Jorie Caneta and Béryl Gastaldello each swam NCAA “B” qualifying times while earning individual wins. Caneta earned a victory in the 200 breast (2:12.62) and Gastaldello in the 50 free (22.57).

Across the pool, the dive team controlled the diving well with wins in both springboard dives. In the three-meter, Texas A&M had top scoring dives from sophomore Alais Kalonji in first (311.55), with junior Zoe Alaniz (303.15) and freshman Kaley Batten rounding out the top three (282.38). The Aggies also took the top three spots in the one-meter dive with Batten in the lead, scoring a 292.42. Kalonji placed second (279.75) and Alaniz took third (243.83).

Closing out the meet, the Aggies finished with the top four times in the 200 free relay. The quartet of freshman Samantha Siebenaller, freshman Katie Portz, McMahon, and Gastaldello touched in 1:34.25 to finish first.

The Aggies return to action this Friday through Sunday as they travel to Austin to compete at the Jamail Texas Swim Center in the Arena Pro Swim Series.  Live results and live stream information for the Arena Pro Series can be accessed at USASwimming.com.

North Texas

COLLEGE STATION – The North Texas swimming and diving team dropped a dual meet, 178-109, at No. 7 Texas A&M on Wednesday afternoon inside the Student Rec Center Natatorium.

North Texas secured 19 top-three finishes, including a first-place showing in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

The Mean Green opened the meet by claiming third and fourth in the 200-yard medley relay. The relay team of Jowita Sienczyk, Sarah Vaisse, Kelsey Opiela and Brittany Thurstin led the relay teams at 1:47.80.

Natalia Kwiatkowska led the way for North Texas, securing the first individual top-three finish for the Mean Green behind a season-best time of 10:32.87 in the 1,000-yard freestyle. She later swam a career-best time of 4:41.39 in the 400 individual medley en route to second-place finish.

Sienczyk recorded another podium finish for North Texas, securing third place in the 100-yard backstroke (57.70). Ash Stone finished fifth at 59.53. Stone logged her first top-three finish in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:05.79.

Thurstin added to the top-three finishes for North Texas in the 50-yard freestyle, clinching the third-place spot at 24.35.

Vaisse, the 100-yard breaststroke record holder at North Texas, touched the wall at 1:05.42 in the event, finishing fourth. Following her was Claudia Kitching (1:05.80) in fifth and Kathleen Rousset (1:08.03) in sixth.

The Mean Green had three athletes place in the top-five of the 200-yard breaststroke, led by Kitching’s second-place showing at 2:19.89. Vaisse finished third (2:23.32) and Kathleen Rousset followed her in fourth with a time of 2:27.77.

North Texas found success in the 100-yard freestyle, collecting two of the top-three spots. Isabelle Morris came away with the second spot, posting a time of 52.10, while Thurstin logged her second individual podium finish with a time of 53.66.

Barbara Wasilewska had a strong showing in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing second with a time of 5:13.54, narrowly edging out teammate Sara Whelan (5:13.67).

Sydney Buckley (57.46), Opiela (1:00.00) and Caroline Culpepper (1:01.62) went 2-4 in the 100-yard butterfly.

Capping the meet for the Mean Green was the foursome of Emmabeth Jensen, Thurstin, Morris and Vaisse who secured the 200-yard freestyle relay victory and North Texas’ lone victory with a time of 1:37.77.

On the diving side, Samantha Scheck finished second on the one-and-three-meter boards. Scheck logged a score of 210.14 on the three-meter and 225.67 on the one-meter.

Following Scheck on the three-meter board were teammates Jordan Ransom in third (207.38) and Averie Ruiz in fourth (205.35). On the one-meter, Ruiz finished third (215.62) and Gabryella Silva finished fourth (211.95).

Quick Hits

• The 200-yard medley relay team of Ash Stone, Claudia Kitching, Sydney Buckley and Isabelle Morris finished fourth at 1:49.78
• Barbara Wasilewska clocked a time of 10:43.08 in the 1,000-yard freestyle, good for fourth place
• Morris placed fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:52.87). Sara Whelan (1:55.87) and Katie Moore (2:01.47) finished in the top-eight of the event
• Lindsey Blanchard placed third in the 400 IM behind a time of 4:45.07. She finished seventh in the 100-yard backstroke, clocking a time of 1:01.36.
• Meredith Manry (2:09.22) and Haley Timmons (2:09.23) finished fourth and fifth in the 200-yard butterfly
• Abbie Imes swam a time of 26.35 in the 50-yard freestyle
• Courtney Connelly finished fourth in the 100-yard freestyle (54.40)
• Emily Rush finished third in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:19.84
• Katie Moore swam a time of 5:15.12 in the 500-yard freestyle, securing fourth place
• Meaghan Rousset recorded a third-place finish in the 400 IM (4:45.07)
• North Texas’ other 200-yard freestyle relay team comprised of Opiela, Buckley, Moore and Connelly finished second with a time of 1:40.55

Up Next For North Texas

The North Texas diving team will head to Colorado Springs, Colorado, for the Air Force Diving Invitational from Jan. 25-27. North Texas’ swimming team will compete against TCU on Jan. 27 at 5 p.m. in Fort Worth.