Women’s swimming and diving runs away from foes, wins 15th Big 12 title

By Steve Lansdale

AUSTIN, Texas — For the fifth consecutive season, and the 15^th time since joining the conference, the Texas women’s swimming and diving team has claimed the Big 12 Championships … and it was not close.

The Longhorns piled up 991 points, blowing away runner-up Kansas, which finished second with 683.5. Iowa State finished third, with 591.5, followed by West Virginia with 581.5. TCU rounded out the top five with 434.5 points.

Just like their counterparts [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]on the Texas men’s team, the Longhorns swept the individual awards.

Senior Madisyn Cox was named Outstanding Women’s Swimmer of the Meet for the second time in as many years, while UT sophomore Meghan O’Brien was named the Diver of the Meet and Lauren Case was named Newcomer of the Meet.

UT’s Carol Capitani was named Swimming Coach of the Meet, while Matt Scoggin was named Diving Coach of the Meet — mirroring the award he won for his work with the divers on the men’s team. Scoggin’s award was his fifth straight, and his 14^th overall.

Senior All-America Tasija Karosas finished a personal four-year sweep in the 200 backstroke, winning the event in 1:51.11 to barely edge out freshman Claire Adams, who finished second in 1:51.16. UT claimed the top four spots in the event; freshman Kaitlin Harty was third, in 1:54.28, and sophomore Quinn Carrozza was fourth, in 1:54.29.

Junior Rebecca Millard has a chance to put together a similar sweep in an event after winning her third Big 12 crown in the 100 freestyle, touching the wall first in 47.90. Sophomore Anelise Diener finished second, in 48.60, while sophomore Nora McCullagh placed fourth, in 50.24.

Sophomore Joanna Evans won her second straight Big 12 title in the 1,650 freestyle in 16:05.11, shaving more than eight seconds off the 16:13.39 that won the event last season.

Cox repeated as Big 12 champion in the 200 breaststroke in 2:07.23, giving her three individual titles at the conference’s championship meet.

Freshman Lauren Case won the 200 butterfly in 1:53.85 — the seventh-fastest time in the country this year — to give her two individual titles in as many nights. Sophomore Remedy finished second, in 1:54.70, while senior Maggie D’Innocenzo finished fourth in 1:58.85.

Freshman Sofia Rauzi won the platform diving final with 252.45 points, while the Texas relay of Millard, Adams, Karosas and Cox won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:13.36, the fifth-fastest in school history.
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