Our coverage of the 2013 Big 12 Swimming Championships in Austin this week are being led by Catherine Wagner, a junior at the University of Texas.
On the final morning of the Big 12 Championship, The University of Texas continued their dominance. They will have the top seed in every event except one, the women’s 200 butterfly.
Women
Sarah Denninghoff of Texas, winner of the 100 backstroke last night, took the top seed in the 200 backstroke in a time of 1:55.65. She was followed by Iowa State’s Bre Loeschke in 1:56.82 and Kansas senior Brooke Brull in 1:58.50.
In the 100 freestyle, Texas will enter finals with the top 4 seeds led by Samantha Tucker’s 49.24.
The 200 breaststroke involved very few surprises as Laura Sogar of Texas cruised to a 2:08.12. She definitely has the ability to be much faster tonight as she was a 2:05.04 at Nationals in December. Gretchen Jaques and Skylar Smith, also of Texas, finished second and third in 2:13.48 and 2:14.32, respectively.
The 200 butterfly was a bit of a different story, as Texas will not have anyone swimming in the A final. Mandie Nugent of West Virginia, runner-up in the 100 butterfly, finished first in 1:56.00. Her teammate Julie Ogden was second (1:59.36) and TCU’s Ali Bleasdell was third (2:00.89). Between Nugent and Rachael Burnett, West Virginia has had very impressive swims this weekend and certainly made their presence known in the Big 12.
Men
In the 200 backstroke, Austin Surhoff of Texas continued a great meet with a strong prelims swim of 1:43.50, good for the top seed over fellow Longhorn Kip Darmody (1:43.61) and TCU’s Cooper Robinson (1:43.96).
Patrick Murphy, also of Texas, was 4th in 1:44.10 and will definitely be a contender tonight. Given how close these top 4 times are, this race should be very exciting tonight.
In the 100 freestyle, Texas took the top 7 seeds. Dax Hill led the way in 43.10, and it would be great if he can get under the 43 second barrier this evening now that he’s back into his more signature freestyle races. His freshman teammate John Murray also put together a great swim and will enter tonight seeded second in 43.41.
Although the 200 breaststroke is one of Texas’ weaker events, they were still able to grab the top seed courtesy of TCU transfer Matt Korman’s 2:00.33. The rest of the heat will be occupied by West Virginia and his former teammates from TCU. Christopher Brill (2:01.02) and Mitchell Adshead (2:02.01) were second and third, respectively.
Tripp Cooper was first in the 200 butterfly in 1:45.65 and has eyes set on a sweep of the butterfly events, as he was the champion in the 100 last night. Conor Swanson, also of Texas, was behind him for second in 1:46.78. TCU’s Luis Azarias was third in 1:48.83.
Tonight’s session will begin at 6:00 PM CST, with finals of the 1650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, platform diving, and the 400 free relay.