Aggie Freshmen Lead the Way as Texas A&M Wins 15th-Straight Over Rice

Texas A&M vs. Rice Women’s Dual Meet

• October 23, 2020
• Texas A&M Rec Center Natatorium, College Station, Texas
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Meet Results (PDF)
• Team Scores
  • Texas A&M Women 150-Rice Women 107 (exhibition aided)

The Texas A&M Aggies won 12 out of 14 events to win their 15th consecutive dual meet over Rice.

The Aggie freshmen stole the show in their official debuts for the Aggies. The team brought in a huge class of 14 for this season. Most notably, that includes Chloe Stepanek, who won the 50 free (23.17), 200 free (1:46.78), and 500 free (4:55.03) for the Aggies, all in fairly-comfortable margins.

That’s huge for the Aggie women, as the freestyle events where a huge weakness for the team last season. After 4 straight SEC Championships, the A&M women finished 6th last season, due in large part to their sprint freestyle struggles. At the SEC Championships, they scored only 4 points in the 50 free and 8 points in the 100 free, and their 200 free relay and 400 free relay both placed 9th at that meet.

While Stepanek alone won’t solve that problem, and the Aggies still need some help, but with a 22.51 split on the anchor of the 200 medley relay, she’s already in range of the team’s 4th-best split at SECs last season.

Highlighting the Aggies’ struggles, Rice finished 1-2-3 in the 100 freestyle, with Becca Evans (52.19), Imogen Meers (52.36), and Marta Cano Minarro (52.50) leading A&M’s top finisher Bobbi Kennet (52.52).

That trio also led Rice to a win in the 200 free relay, where they swam 1:34.14 to beat A&M by four-tenths.

Other freshmen winners include Charlotte Longbottom in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.56), and Emme Nelson in the 200 breaststroke (2:16.99).

Among the returning Aggie swimmers, senior Jing Quah, who won all 3 of her individual events. She topped the 200 fly in 1:57.60, the 100 fly in 54.88, and the 400 IM in 4:13.75. Her 200 fly time ranks her 2nd in the country this season behind Georgia’s Dakota Luther (1:57.19).

She also split 24.61 on the fly leg of the 200 medley relay, where the Aggies won in 1:42.21. Rice was actually leading this relay until the freestyle anchor leg, where Stepanek put a second between herself and Rice anchor Lindsay Mathys.

At this meet last season, then-sophomore Emma Carlton won 3 events. This year, while her social media shows she was on deck at the meet, she didn’t race.