North Texas Relays
- Denton, Texas
- Saturday, September 29, 2018
- Results
- Scores: North Texas 206, Little Rock 130, Oklahoma Baptist 74
Press Releases
Courtesy of Little Rock Athletics
DENTON, TEXAS- In the first meet of the season, Little Rock placed second in the North Texas Relays on Friday afternoon, finishing behind North Texas and ahead of Oklahoma Baptist University.
The Trojans tallied 130 points while North Texas finished with 206 points. Oklahoma Baptist rounded out the competition with 74 points.
In the women’s 300-yard fly relay, Carolyn Ann Godwin, Claire Bristow and Rachel Maradyn finished with a final time of 3:06.79 which was good enough for third
place in the event. Katie White, Alexis Carr and Lily Kerr also competed in the event and took fifth with a time of 3:16.77.
The 300-yard back relay was tightly contested as the Trojans narrowly took second place. Laura Ruiz Astorga, Lea Zengerling and Jesse Baldwin finished with a time of 3:00.18. Reagan Lawrence, Charis Ron and Amanda Dreyer posted a time of 3:08.91 to place fourth in the event while Mia Gibson, Alexis McCauley and Vasiliki Falania finished at 3:38.20 to finish sixth.
White, Baldwin and Ann Kharlamova competed in the 300-yard breast relay and came in with a time of 3:42.47 and finished fourth.
In the 800-yard free relay, Bristow, Zengerling, Won and Dreyer finished with a time of 8:03.87, only tenths of a second behind second-place North Texas as the Trojans finished third in this event. Kerr, Maradyn, Kharlamova and Falania also posted a time of 8:22.28 for fourth place.
Finishing third in the 500-yard free 50-100-150-200 relay was Imre van Huyssteen, Gibson, McCauley and Katie Carsrud with a time of 5:33.16.
Competing in the 200-yard medley relay was Ruiz Astorga, Palmer Ristroph, Carolyn Godwin and Lawrence who came with a time of 1:54.06 for a third-place finish. Baldwin, van Huyssteen, Carr and Kharlamova finished with a time of 1:56.88 again only tenths of a second behind fourth-place North Texas as the Little Rock took fifth in this event.
With a second place finish in the 200-yard free relay, Ruiz Astorga, Bristow, van Huyssteen and Lawrence posted a time of 1:43.68. Carr, Won, Falania and Ristroph finished at 1:47.46 for fifth place.
The Trojans found themselves in second place yet again in the 1500-yard free relay as the trio of Zengerling, Bristow and Kerr posted a time of 16:16.09. Another Trojan trio finished fourth with a time of 16:38.13.
As the Trojans would head into the 400-yard medley 4×100 IM relay, Ruiz Astorga, Baldwin, Dreyer and Ristroph would compete yet again. The quartet finished in third place with a time of 4:15.22. Also notching a fifth-place finish in the event were Godwin, Maradyn, White and Carsrud with a time of 4:30.18.
The final event of the afternoon was the 400-yard free relay. Trojans grabbed a third-place finish as Bristow, Zengerling, Lawrence and van Huyssteen came in with a time of 3:41.63. Finishing fifth in the event was Won, Kerr, Falania and Kharlamova with a time of 3:57.93 Rounding out the competition was Carr, Gibson, Carsrud and McCauley posting a time of 4:17.03 for sixth place.
The Trojans will return to Donaghey Aquatic Center for their first home meet of the season on Oct. 6 at 11 a.m.
Courtesy of North Texas Athletics
DENTON – The Mean Green swimming & diving team opened the 2018-19 season as winners of the annual North Texas Relays on Friday at the Pohl Recreation Center.
“We didn’t hold anything back in training this week, so I expected them to be tired,” head coach Brittany Roth said, “but a lot of them swam faster than their time trial at the beginning of the season. I’m happy about where we’re going to go from here.”
UNT finished with 206 points, followed by Little Rock with 130 and Oklahoma Baptist with 74. The Mean Green were victorious in eight of the 10 events, including all five freestyle relays.
“We’ve got a lot of familiar blood in those events,” Roth said. “We graduated a lot of talent with Isabelle Morris, but I’m excited to see some of the freshman step into those positions and have the returners show them the way.”
Sophomore Leigh Faires McGee, the team’s fastest swimmer in five freestyle events in her freshman season, was a member of winning groups in the 800-, 500-, 400- and 200-yard freestyle relays on Friday.
“It was hard, honestly,” McGee said. “I was a little nervous for this meet, because I had a long lineup. There was a little pressure after last season, but I’m ready to do better.”
The Mean Green showed depth in the distance freestyle races as freshmen Jordan Gorham and Bryanna Vasquez contributed to victories in the 800- and 3×500-yard freestyle relays. Vasquez picked up another win as part of the 400-yard freestyle relay.
“We have a great distance freestyle group now,” McGee said. “I get to train with them and they’re a lot of fun to work with.”
Roth got a chance to see 11 of her 12 newcomers in action, led by freshman Karigan Stanley, who helped North Texas to first-place finishes in the 200-yard butterfly relay, 800-yard freestyle relay and the 4×100-yard individual medley relay.
“She’s got a lot of versatility and she showed that today,” Roth said.
“It was really fun,” Stanley said. “It made me happy to get a couple wins, because I have to prove myself as a freshman.”
Senior Meaghan Rousset was the only returner on the 3×100-yard breaststroke relay, along with newcomers Brooke Beddingfield and Ula Michalczyk, and the group took second behind OBU. Beddingfield recorded the fastest split with a time of 1:06.19.
“We got to see what the newcomers have got,” Roth said. “Brooke stood out to me. She’s a good little racer.”
Even with a hefty lead going into the final event, the team showcased its chemistry and spirit during the final race with everyone on the bench jumping and yelling as the Mean Green won the 400-yard freestyle relay by just .19 seconds.
“That’s my favorite part of coaching,” Roth said. “The message since day one is that we’re in it together. It is an individual sport, but we’ve peppered in activities to get them to rely on one another and work together. There’s a lot of good chemistry with this group.”
Senior Emmabeth Jensen, who swam anchor in the event, thrived in the moment and used her team’s support to give her the final push to touch the wall first.
“I love when they put me on the anchor,” Jensen said. “The crowd got so loud and it got me hyped. My heart rate was up. Coach has been getting us to not breathe over the last five yards into the wall, and it paid off today.”
UP NEXT
North Texas begins dual-meet action with a rematch with Little Rock at 11 a.m. Oct. 6 at the Donaghey Aquatic Center in Little Rock, Ark.
Courtesy of Oklahoma Baptist Athletics
SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist rolled off two women’s relay wins at the North Texas Relays Friday while the Bison swam unopposed.
Juliana Cifuentes, Marizel Van Jaarsveld and Miriam Avila won the 300 breaststroke relay in 3:19.81.
OBU won the 200 medley relay in 1:48.30 with Van Jaarsveld, Cifuentes, Julie Day and Victoria Fonville.
Austin Saunders, David Henson and Ivan Irun won the 300 fly relay in 2:44.63. Josip Miscovic, Henry Contich and Jacob Usry took the 300 breaststroke relay in 3:02.08. Alfredo Arrieche, Drew Dickson and Henson won the 1500 free relay in 15:01.12.
Felipe Ramirez Zapata, Davion Conley, Saunders and Ryan Walker captured the 200 medley relay in 1:33.61. Miskovic, Colton Wyatt, Contich and Zachary McSwain won the 200 free relay in 1:31.17.
William Newman, Contich, Thomas Peterson and Miscovic won the 4×100 IM relay in 3:45.
Conley, Walker, Saunders and Alexander Leff won the 400 free relay in 3:13.27.
Zapata won the 200 individual medley in 1:53.32.
Diving results were not reported, but Coach Sam Freas reported that the OBU contingent did well.