The No. 5 Texas A&M Aggies women's swimming and diving team lost 172-123 to the top-ranked Texas Longhorns in a dual swim meet Friday evening at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. What was being considered a great Texas state matchup between two of the top swim teams in the country fell flat, and the top women's swim team in the country proved why they are the best in the pool.
Just as the Texas A&M men's swim team was struggling against the Longhorn men, the Aggies women were also dominated on Friday night losing 11 of the 16 events. Although they were outclassed by the Longhorns, there were still some bright spots and areas of success for the Aggies that they can take with them into their next meet:
— Anna Belosusova won the 200 breast stroke with an NCAA B-cut time of 2:13.91.
— Aggies won the 400 free relay, as Raena Eldridge,Golf Sapianchai, Katie Portz and Rasmus swam a time of 3:22.46.
— Sydney Pickrem won the 100 breast stroke with a time of 1:00.88 and the 200 individual medley (IM) with a time of 1:58.30 and also picked up
— Claire Rasmus won the 200 free with a time of 1:46.50, and also finished second in the 100 free with a time of 49.89.
It was like watching the older sibling reminding the younger who was at the top of the family hierarchy. As for now, the Texas Longhorns are still in control in the NCAA. The other good thing that comes out of this for the Aggies is that they had the experience of swimming with the top team in college sports and have experienced a level of talent and speed that will prepare them to handle other universities going forward. Overall, Aggies head coach Steve Bultman thought the team performed well.
The Aggies will have a chance to get revenge for this loss in their own pool on Wednesday, November 14 for the Art Adamson Invitational at the Texas A&M Rec Center, beginning at 10 a.m. CT. Hopefully they can take the positive results they had this week and build some momentum going forward. They will be swimming in College Station until January 17, 2019 when they are back in Austin, TX at the Longhorn LC Invite. Maybe the Aggies will be ready for the rematch by then.
