FORT WORTH, Texas – The TCU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams hit the road for their final dual of the season, squaring off against No. 2/6 Texas on Friday, Feb. 6, at 4 p.m. at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin.
Follow The Frogs
To keep track of the meet live, follow the Horned Frogs on Twitter at @TCUSwimDive. Live stats will be provided at http://sidearmstats.com/texas/swim/index.htm and diving results can be found at DiveMeets.com. A full recap from the meet will be posted to GoFrogs.com following the end of the dual.
Last Time Out
The women’s team wrapped up their last home dual of the season with a victory over North Texas on Friday, Jan. 30, by a score of 168-130. After honoring 17 seniors from both the men’s and the women’s squads, the Horned Frogs won the first two events and four of the first seven overall to jump out to a sizable point lead and never looked back. Junior Carley Stevens led the way for TCU with two individual wins in the 500 (5:07.53) and 1000 (10:23.24) freestyle events. The Horned Frogs went 1-2-3 in the 200 fly behind the trio of senior Ali Bleasdell and juniors Catherine Rash and Maggie Burkhardt. Bleasdell’s third win of the season in the event came by a time of 2:04.57, with Rash and Burkhardt finishing with times of 2:06.14 and 2:06.56, respectively. In the 3-meter dive, junior Kristen Connolly picked up her first win of the season, recording a score of 258.15. Senior Courtney Cheek posted a second-place mark in the 1-meter dive at 260.99, a season-best score.
Season Review
The TCU men’s team boasts a 4-1 record this season, while the women’s squad is 7-3. The lone conference dual for the men’s squad so far this season came at West Virginia, the women’s team has faced three conference foes in Kansas, Iowa State and West Virginia. The Horned Frog women dropped a tough bout on the road at Kansas 172-124, and were edged by Iowa State in the final race of the dual to fall 157-143. The women’s team picked up their first Big 12 win of the season against the Mountaineers, 155-145. This will be the final conference dual before the Big 12 Championships from Feb. 25-28 in Austin.
1-2-3
With the addition of women’s 200 IM, the Horned Frogs have swept the top three spots in a race 27 times this season. The first came in Andrews, Texas, in the women’s 200 medley relay. TCU finished with 15 overall between the men’s and women’s squads. In the double dual with North Dakota and Kansas, the Horned Frogs added four. Against SMU, the TCU men had one in the 1000 free. In the first meet of the 2015 slate of the schedule, the men’s team tallied five 1-2-3 finishes against Florida Atlantic. The men’s team added another in Morgantown against West Virginia in the 200 medley relay.
Recording the Hat Trick
Freshman Devin Newton and junior Mikayla Winkler are the latest Horned Frogs this season to pick up three wins in a single dual. At West Virginia, Newton claimed victories in the 100 breast (1:04.69), 200 breast (2:23.05) and 200 IM (2:05.50). Out of the four Horned Frogs to accomplish the feat this season, Newton is the only student-athlete to do it in only individual events. Winkler earned her three wins in the 200 free (1:50.98), 500 free (4:57.88) and 400 free relay (3:28.31). Junior Lyndsie Gibson was the first TCU swimmer to hit the mark this season, doing it in the season opener against Tulane. Senior Cooper Robinson is the only swimmer to tally three victories in a two separate duals, doing so against SMU and Florida Atlantic.
Road Warriors
The TCU men’s squad picked up four-straight wins on the road this season. The men have posted wins against UT-Permian Basin (118-83), North Dakota (169-126), SMU (173.5-126.5) and Florida Atlantic (149-101). Over that stretch, the Horned Frogs achieved an average margin of victory of over 43 points.
Big 12 Swimmer of the Week
On Nov. 20, senior Cooper Robinson was named the Big 12 Men’s Swimmer of the Week after his performance against cross-town rival SMU. In the win against the Mustangs, he recorded three first-place finishes, as well as a second-place time. He notched victories in 200 back (1:47.18), 200 IM (1:52.58) and helped earn a win in the 200 medley relay event. It was the second career honor for the Katy, Texas, native.
Etched in History
At the Art Adamson Invitational, six Horned Frogs wrote their names in the TCU record books, setting school-bests in two relay events. On Nov. 21, the quartet of Cooper Robinson, Ford Story, Garrett Hills and Josh Mangus tallied a time of 1:28.09 in the 200 medley relay to claim the school record. The following night, Hills, Corey Nix, Sebastian Arispe and Mangus grabbed the best 400 free relay time in program history, clocking in at 2:57.87. Robinson also holds the school records in the 100 back (46.94) and 200 back (1:42.33) events, while Arispe claims the standard in the 500 free (4:25.57). Hills & Nix helped set a program-best time in the 200 free relay last season and Arispe & Mangus were half of the squad who set the 800 free relay record in 2012.
Storybook Ending
In his final race in a TCU uniform, Sebastian Arispe set the school record in the 400 free relay with a time of 2:57.87. The native of Lima, Peru, graduated in December and returned home to Peru to continue his training for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. He leaves TCU holding three school records.
Trying to Punch Their Ticket
Four Horned Frogs have notched NCAA “B” cut times so far this season, all coming at the Art Adamson Invitational from Nov. 20-22. Freshman Devin Newton accomplished the feat in the women’s 200 IM with a time of 2:01.28. On the men’s side, Cooper Robinson also earned a “B” cut time in the 200 IM at 1:48.35. Robinson and Josh Mangus achieved the mark in the 100 and 200 back events and Ford Story did it in the 100 breast event. To automatically qualify for the NCAA meet, a student-athlete must register an “A” cut time in an event.
Swim News Courtesy TCU Horned Frogs
One commenter mentioned that Schooling hurt his shoulder which caused him not to swim in the last Texas dual. If it is true, I wish him the quickest of recoveries and hopefully he is good to go again.