Reported by Lauren Neidigh.
TEXAS VS. TEXAS A&M
- Results
- Hosted by Texas A&M
- Friday, November 3rd
- 25 Yards
- Dual Meet Format
On the women’s side, Longhorn Joanna Evans swept her individual events, picking up 3 wins to help her team to victory. She won back-to-back events to open the session, starting with the 1000 free. She surged ahead of the field in 9:44.53, while freshman teammate Evie Pfeifer joined her under 9:50 to take 2nd in 9:49.03. Evans returned shortly after, with only the men’s 1000 free between her events, to swim the 200 free. She came from behind with a 26.99 closing split to win that race in 1:46.72.
Evans secured the triple in the 500 free, where she once again led a 1-2 charge with Pfeifer (4:46.88). She took control of the race early on, building her lead throughout her 4:43.32 victory. Also contributing individual wins for Texas were Remedy Rule and Quinn Carrozza. Rule held a steady lead through the 200 fly, posting a 1:55.79 ahead of the Aggies’ Bethany Galat (1:57.19). Carrozza battled closely with Texas A&M’s Lisa Bratton in the 200 back, holding off a 28.15 final surge from Bratton to take the win 1:53.80 to 1:53.84.
SwimSwim commenters are like Wall Street analysts: Don’t meet expectations? Punish. Exceed expectations? Punish.
Looking at times for the majority of A&M swimmers vs. UT swimmers and their previous meets this year, did UT women rest a couple of days for this meet? I didn’t see the meet, but looking at Rule’s and other UT girls dropping 4 seconds for their 200 fly’s and other swimmers with pretty impressive times I was just wondering if UT strategically “semi-rests” for certain mid season meets.
Pretty sure they fully tapered, shaved, and suited for this meet.
Actually the longhorns had a full week of training including a morning that same morning and 90% back squats the day before. I can speak for this as I am on the team. Rivalrys are incredible because bring out the best racing in any team, so please don’t belittle our success mearly because we swam well. Also, I believe our success at last years NCAAs as well as our mid season meet prove that we are not “semi-resting” several times throughout the year. Why is this continually brought up when referenced to our team, but never about other teams when they perform?
FemaleLonghorn – it is actually brought up about every team when they perform. For me, one of the most vexing things about our swimming community as a whole – the belief that a season-ruining taper is the only way to swim fast. Check out any NC State article, and more recently every Indiana article has become a victim. There’s a few other popular ‘clearly rested’ teams, but the murmur is usually louder in rivalry meets especially. For a while there was a solid comment-joke floating around that went something like “such and such team only won NCAAs because they were rested.”
The only thing worse than ‘they rested’ is ‘they suited,’ IMO.
If the Longhorns beat A&M at NCAAs then it will prove they were less rested than them, it’s really that simple.
But on paper it seems that the best teams at NCAAs will be
1. Stanford
2. Cal
3. A&M
I could be wrong (just a guess)
To discredit you a little bit FEMALELONGHORN, the UT women have beaten Cal midseason for the past 3 years and then have gone on to be crushed at NCAAs in point scores.
(In 2017 356-252, in 2016 358-79, in 2015 513-164)
It seems your full weeks of training and 90% lifts are not as intense as the teams you beat in dual meets.
Show up at the big… Read more »
You have to realize that a team with good overall depth can beat a team in a dual meet but not score as many points at the NCAA championships. The scoring and dynamics are completely different. It was a great meet and I think the fast times were due to the atmosphere and the rivalry. It was exciting to watch.
I agree with NAH and CHOCOLATETHUNDER.
Listen. I get dropping 1-2 seconds based on the “rivalry emotion”, but there were some very close to lifetime bests (example is Quinn’s 200 back) and every single 200-flyer from UT went a season best by 4 sec. That’s not coincidental or emotional, that’s an adjustment in training. It’s similar to the Dolan vs Comerford article a few weeks ago after the Louisville/Notre Dame dual meet. It’s absurd. Dual meets are not a real comparison of teams when coaches selectively “rest” swimmers to score points. Wise coaches stay focused on the important meets. Texas A&M has their mid-season invite in less than 2 weeks. Smart to not get caught up in the rivalry… Read more »
Anna Belousova almost went a lifetime best in the 200 breaststroke and dropped 3 seconds off her season best. Lisa Bratton’s 200 backstroke may have not have been as close to her lifetime best but it was almost 2 seconds off her season best time. Jorie Caneta also had a very impressive 100 breaststroke swim. I don’t think that UT’s swimmers were any more rested than Texas A&M’s were. Both teams had impressive swims and we shouldn’t be pointing fingers at who rested more.
Impressed with her interview. Seems well spoken and mature for her age. For any age…