The Arkansas Razorback women hosted Texas A&M to a crushing defeat, as they lost 170-120 without winning a single individual event forcing the Aggies to swim exhibition swims halfway through in order to keep the score closer.
200 Medley Relay
The Aggies quickly displayed how the outcome of the meet was going to turn out as they took control early on with a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay. The A-team, which consisted of Kelli Benjamin, Sycerika McMahon, Beryl Gastaldello and Sammie Bosma threw together a 1:40.68.
Sammie Bosma had the fastest freestyle leg of the group with a 22.44. Lisa Bratton, who led off the B-team relay split the fastest backstroke leg with a 25.69.
Anna Mayfield of Arkansas wasn’t far behind her at the start of the race, splitting a 25.96 to kick-off the Razorbacks A-team which finished third overall with a time of 1:42.08.
1000 Free
Sarah Henry of the Aggies was on a mission in the 1000 free, winning the event by a comfortable 17.44 seconds over teammate Colleen Konetzke. Henry swam a 9:55.96 to take the win. That time currently ranks as the third fastest this season, beating out the previous third ranked swimmer, Gillian Ryan, who swam a 9:56.34 in early October.
Behind Henry was Konetzke in 10:13.42 followed by Razorback Aiden Lister in 10:17.99.
200 Free
Lili Ibanez Lopez opened up in the 200 free to be the only swimmer under 1:50 with a swift 1:49.79. Behind her was Sarah Gibson in 1:50.05 and Kristin Malone who made it a 1-2-3 podium sweep for the Aggies as Malone came home in 1:51.37.
100 Back
Beryl Gastaldello who swam the fly leg on the winning 200 medley relay displayed her strength in the backstroke with a 54.71 win over Anna Mayfield. Mayfield, who swims with Arkansas, was just behind her in 55.10 to finish second.
Rounding out the top three was Gastaldello’s teammate, Claire Brandt. Brandt got her hand on the wall slightly behind Mayfield in 55.43.
100 Breast
Sycerika McMahon posted the fourth fastest time this season in the 100 breast with a 1:01.79. Nikki Daniels wasn’t far behind the Aggie, putting up a 1:02.10. Daniels is currently ranked second in the nation with the 1:01.63 she swam at a dual meet against Florida in late September.
The current nation-leading time is just one one-hundredth faster than Daniels’ September swim, sitting at 1:01.62 by Kaylin Burchell.
Finishing third here in Arkansas was Franko Jonker in 1:02.84.
200 Fly
The 200 fly was won by Emily Neubert who put up a 2:03.00 to hold off Arkansas’ Taylor Weiss. Weiss came flying in in 2:03.46 to narrowly beat her teammate, Caitlin Sheridan, who rounded out the top three with a 2:03.65.
50 Free
Sammie Bosma who had the fastest split on the freestyle leg of the medley relay displayed once again that she was the sprint queen at this dual meet with a 22.95 performance to win gold in the 50. Behind her was Arkansas’ Nina Drolc in 23.46, making it a very comfortable win for Bosma.
Behind Drolc was Susanna White in 23.54 almost half-a-second ahead of the rest of the field.
100 Free
Bosma was able to complete the freestyle sweep with a 50.75 win in the 100. At this point in the meet, in order to keep the score close, only one A&M swimmers’ time counted towards their overall points.
Nina Drolc finished behind Bosma much like in the 50, with a 50.95 to close the gap. Third was Maddie Monroe of Arkansas who snuck in with a 51.99. The third fastest performance of the meet however was a 51.61 from Kelli Benjamin.
200 Back
Lisa Bratton who swam the fastest backstroke leg on the medley relay added an individual gold with a solid 1:57.92 in the 200 back. She held off all advances by Anna Mayfield of Arkansas, who already had a silver in the 100 back, as Mayfield placed second yet again with a 1:58.76.
third overall was Liz Braun of Arkansas in 2:04.55. Claire Brandt of Texas A&M was a 1:58.89 just behind Mayfield, however her time did not count towards any points.
200 Breast
After a brilliant 100 breaststroke, Sycerika McMahon put together the fastest time this season in the 200 breast with a 2:14.39. That swim knocked off the previous best swim done by Marina Garcia which was a 2:15.88.
Franko Jonker, McMahons teammate, also dipped under the previous season best time of 2:15.88 with a 2:15.78 to rank her second overall this season. Her time didn’t count for second however and that went to Arkansas’ Nulia Banach at 2:17.76.
500 Free
Sarah Gibson won the 500 freestyle in 4:55.54 to hold off teammate Colleen Konetzke who touched in at 4:58.56. Aiden Lister of Arkansas clocked in for a 5:00.79 to take silver behind Gibson, Rachel Stoehr was third in 5:02.14.
100 Fly
As if the sprint freestyle titles weren’t enough, once more Sammie Bosma demonstrated her pure speed with a 55.33 to win the 100 fly. Beryl Gastaldello was with her the whole time, touching in at 55.54 for a great exhibition swim.
Second overall was Taylor Weiss in 56.62 followed by Jessie Garrison in 57.79. Aggie Emily Neubert threw down a 56.32 which would have earned her third if more than one Texas A&M time counted.
200 IM
Sarah Henry swam the fourth fastest time this season in the 200 IM to win another gold, winning the race in 2:00.61. Following Henry to the wall was Anna Mayfield of Arkansas who had to settle for second again, finishing the race in 2:06.13.
Aggies Sycerika McMahon and Bethany Galat each put together a 2:02.83 an a 2:03.39 respectively.
200 Free Relay
Coming down to the last event of the night and Arkansas finally came home with a win. The win was due to the fact that none of the A&M relays counted, however it was still an extremely close race.
After the halfway point, the Razorbacks were in the lead by just 0.15 seconds. Sarah Gibson threw together a 23.22 fly split to regain the lead for Texas A&M. Bethany Galat held the lead for the Aggies as they finished in 1:34.08 compared to the 1:34.78 the Razorbacks swam.
Diving
The Aggies swept both the 1 meter and 3 meter diving events at the dual meet, with Madison Hudkins winning both of them. Finishing second in both was Nicole Gillis, third in both was Meghan Clark.
For full meet results click here.
