Texas Men & Women Lead Big 12 Championships After Day 1

2015 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 25 – Saturday, February 28
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center – University of Texas
• Prelims 10 AM / Finals 6 PM (Central Time)
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results 

Day 1 Finals Results:

WOMEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY – FINALS

The Texas foursome of Tasija Karosas (24.99), Gretchen Jaques (26.80), Brynne Wong (23.47) and Rebecca Millard (22.16) combined to clock a swift 1:37.42 NCAA automatic qualifying time on their way to the first Big 12 title of the evening.  Their time sits 18th among the top times in the nation as of today, shaving a full second off of their best time so far this season.

Iowa State finished over three seconds later in 1:41.26 to add 34 team points to kick-off their meet, while West Virginia University came in third in 1:41.45.  The Kansas team was DQ’d during the event.

MEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY – FINALS

After Jack Conger’s 200y fly American and U.S. Open record during this morning’s time trials, it was easy to see why the Longhorn’s 200y medley relay was so fired up tonight.  The enthusiasm led to an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:24.46 for the squad of Kip Darmody, John Murray, Joseph Schooling and Brett Ringgold, which led tonight’s field by almost three seconds.

For an unshaven relay, the men put up some especially impressive splits, including a 19.66 fly leg for Schooling, which ties Michigan’s Chris Brady and Auburn’s Matt Targett for the fastest-ever in textile.  Schooling went 8.99 for his first 25 yards of that fly split; simply lightening-fast swimming happening in Austin already on just day one. Other splits were as follows: Darmody (21.37), Murray (24.38) and Ringgold (19.05).  Texas already had the top time in the nation from earlier this season in 1:23.88.  That is, before the Michigan Wolverine men clocked a 1:23.47 over in Iowa tonight.

Second in the tonight’s race was TCU who finished in 1:27.52.  West Virginia University was disqualified during the race.

MEN’S 1-METER DIVING- FINALS

Things were just as exciting on the springboard as well, where Texas senior Will Chandler claimed the first place finish with a score of 441.50, a point total which overtakes the previous school record of 429.00 set by former Longhorn Michael Hixon in February of last year.  Cory Bowersox settled for runner-up tonight, with his point total of 403.45, followed by West Virginia’s Mike Proietto in third with 304.45.  Texas earned 37 points for their 1-2 punch in the event.

WOMEN’S 800 FREESTYLE RELAY – FINALS

The Texas women’s dominated again in the second relay event, the 800 freestyle relay, where Madisyn Cox (1:45.66), Kelsey Leneave (1:46.05), Tasija Karosas (1:47.73) and Rebecca Millard  (1:47.60) clocked a speed 7:07.04 to just slide in under the NCAA “A” cut of 7:07.20.  Second place tonight went to ISU in 7:17.49, while Kansas cleaned up third just one one-hundredth later in 7:17.50.

MEN’S 800 FREESTYLE RELAY – FINALS

The men cleared the NCAA “A” cut no problem again tonight, earning the 800 freestyle relay title in a superb 6:15.98. Splits include Jonathan Roberts at 1:34.54, Jack Conger at 1:33.59, Clay Youngquist at 1:33.65 and Joseph Schooling at 1:34.20.  Note that the Texas school record of 6:10.16 was set during the “super suit” era of 2009, so it seems to still be elusive at this point.  As comparison, the B1G winner tonight was again the Michigan Wolverines in 6:12.20.

TCU finished in second place in 6:37.44, while West Virginia was disqualified.  With West Virginia getting disqualified both relays, they end they night with zero swimming points.

Team Scores as they stand after Day 1:

Women:

1. Texas – 80
2. Iowa State – 68
3. West Virginia 62
4. TCU – 58
5. Kansas – 32

Men:

1. Texas – 117
2. TCU – 115
3. WVU – 43