Stanford and Texas A&M each won 3 women’s events on the final day of the Art Adamson Invitational in College Station, but the Aggies emerged victorious in the team points, beating Stanford by 80. The Aggie men also won by a large margin.
7 more NCAA “A” cuts went down on day three, all on the women’s side, including both the A&M and Stanford 400 free relays.
Women’s Meet
Sarah Henry started things out for Texas A&M, winning the mile in 16:12.95. That isn’t an A cut, but should put the defending NCAA runner-up in great shape to qualify for the meet come March. Pending results of other invites this weekend, that time sits number 2 in the country behind only Minnesota’s Kiera Janzen. Two of Henry’s younger teammates followed her to the wall to complete the 1-2-3 sweep for A&M – sophomore Colleen Konetzke went 16:37.94 and Sarah Gibson went 16:44.18.
But Stanford answered right back with a 1-2 in the 200 back. Felicia Lee went 1:53.36 and Annemarie Thayer 1:53.99. Those are lifetime bests for both women, and times that put them in legitimate scoring position at NCAAs in an event they both finished just outside the top 16 in last spring. A&M’s Melanie McClure took third in 1:55.46. That’s easily her season-best, and only about a second off a lifetime-best for the senior.
Stanford put up two A cuts in the 100 free, with Lia Neal going 47.48 and Maddy Schaefer 47.75. Prior to this weekend’s results, those would have been the top two times in the NCAA by well over a second. Texas A&M got two nice swims of their own from Lili Ibanez (48.28) and Sammie Bosma (48.72) that both would have been NCAA-leading times as well. In what was a lightning-fast event, 7 women got under 50 seconds, including A&M’s Meredith Oliver and Erica Dittmer and Stanford’s Julia Anderson.
But after two Stanford-dominated races, Texas A&M took over. Reigning American Record-holder Breeja Larson went 2:07.60 to win the 200 breast (she was 2:06.74 in prelims). Her teammate Ashley MacGregor was second, going 2:09.18. Katie Olsen was the top finisher for the Cardinal, taking third in 2:11.89.
Then defending NCAA champ Cammile Adams went a blazing 1:52.72 to win the 200 fly, beating Stanford stud Maya Dirado. Adams’ time was just a tenth off her NCAA-winning time from last March and leads the nation by a longshot. In fact, Dirado will likely rank second in the NCAA with her time of 1:54.47. Both times were A cuts. A&M’s Sammie Bosma contributed a third place finish in 1:57.65.
Finally, both Stanford and Texas A&M put up A cuts in the 400 free relay to close the meet. Stanford won, going 3:13.01 with Lia Neal going 47.6 on the anchor leg. Her relay-mates were Maddy Schaefer, Maya Dirado and Felicia Lee. Texas A&M went 3:14.68 with Lili Ibanez leading off in 48.4.
The relay win wasn’t enough to propel Stanford past the Aggies on the scoreboard, though, as Texas A&M took the meet by 80 points. LSU came down in third place, just ahead of SMU.
Final Team Scores
1. Texas A&M University 1356.5
2. Stanford University 1276.5
3. Louisiana State University 649
4. Southern Methodist University 348
5. Texas Christian University 272
6. U.S. Air Force Academy 82
Men’s Meet
Omar Enriquez continued to dominate the distance events this weekend, winning the 1650 for Texas A&M to open the night. He was 15:14.92. Air Force grabbed the next two spots with Kevin Jackson (15:22.61) and Andrew Faciszewski (15:27.39). Those were both lifetime bests for the Air Force duo.
TCU’s Cooper Robinson won the 200 back a day after pacing the 100. His time of 1:42.50 is only a second off the A cut. The 200 back was a great event for the Horned Frogs, as Adam Szilagyi took third in 1:46.66 and Andrew Mangus was fourth in 1:46.93. Only LSU’s Michael Young broke up the TCU trio, taking second in 1:45.92.
A day after putting up an NCAA-leading 100 fly, A&M’s Henrik Lindau came back to win the 100 free, going 43.89 to barely touch out Air Force’s Ryan Dunne (43.96). A close third was A&M’s Kyle Troskot, who went 44.07. All three men were 44-low coming out of the preliminaries.
Air Force continued its strong night by winning the 200 breaststroke. Sophomore Michael Barnosky went 1:59.49, dropping three seconds off his lifetime best and getting under 2:00 for the first time in his career. He was pushed by LSU’s Ricardo Alvarado, who went 2:00.74 but was making a major charge in the last 50. TCU’s Mitchell Adshead was third in 2:01.77 and LSU’s Gabriel Rooker took fourth in 2:02.32.
TCU butterflyer Frank Greeff won the 200 fly convincingly, going 1:44.72 to best the field by over three seconds. That’s just a few tenths off a lifetime best for the returning NCAA point-scorer. TCU took the next two spots, with Adam Szilagyi going 1:48.06 and Luiz Azarias going 1:48.15.
A&M stormed back to close out the meet with a win in the 400 free relay. The team of Henrik Lindau, Kyle Troskot, Luke Shaw and Paul-Marc Schweitzer went 2:55.28 in the event, led by Lindau’s 43.9 leadoff and Schweitzer’s 43.4 anchor. They beat LSU (2nd, 2:57.25) and Air Force (3rd, 2:58.11).
The relay win sealed an invite victory at home for the Aggie men, who won by about 250 points over LSU.
Final Team Scores
1. Texas A&M University 1114.5
2. Louisiana State University 851.5
3. U.S. Air Force Academy 827
4. Texas Christian University 596
5. Southern Methodist University 475.5
6. Stanford University 129.5
Out of curiosity, If times achieved at Nationals do not count toward NCAA’s qualifying cuts, why would a college team want to taper and go to Nationals vs a college invite? Wondering out load.
Hmmm – times swum at Nationals DO count.
That would make more sense. I had read a post here by someone saying USA times didn’t count towards qualifying for NCAA’s.
Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!
47.48 for Lia Neal!
47.75 for Maddy Schaefer!
Is it a college freshman record for Lia Neal?
Very happy for her after a tough summer.
It seems she’s at the right place at Stanford.
The new women’s sprint kingdom is clearly Stanford now.
And with Simone Manuel and others next year, it will be insane.
Other great performance is 1.52.72 by Cammile Adams in the 200 fly.
Weird to see Maya DiRado in that event rather than in the 200 back. I think she could have swum at least 1.50 in the 200 back. On the other hand, she works her butterfly and it will be useful for her IM.
I kind of expected DiRado to swim the 200 Bk/ 200 Fly double, since this is an early-season meet and she has time to decide where her strength is best.
I think Breeja will make a serious stab at the American records at SCY Nationals.
But I’m a little concerned about Camille Adams. She swam VERY fast this weekend, but I would expect her to be focusing more towards two weeks from now than putting up top times this weekend. Most of the elite talent in the NCAA looks to be in the middle of pretty heavy training right now.