‘A’ Cuts For Neal, Eastin As Texas A&M, Utah Win 2015 Art Adamson Invite

Stanford’s women won 5 of 6 events on the final night of the 2015 Art Adamson Invite, but it was Texas A&M who took home the team title. Meanwhile Utah took the men’s crown with a deep team effort.

Full results

Women’s Meet

The Stanford women were on fire at the top, earning five wins and three “A” cuts, but Texas A&M’s depth pushed them to a home victory as a team.

Lia Neal rocked a 47.76 to win the 100 free by a longshot, even besting tough Aggie Beryl Gastaldello by a half-second. That time is an “A” cut by .03 seconds, earning Neal an automatic invite to the NCAA Championships in the event.

Neal was also 47.86 anchoring the Cardinal 400 free relay, which went 3:13.64 for an “A” cut. Janet Hu, Julia Ama and Lindsey Engel rounded out that relay, with Hu leading off in 48.27.

Hu continued to make waves in the backstroke after swimming as primarily a butterflyer in her freshman season. Hu won the 200 back in 1:52.17, just two tenths off an “A” cut. She and fellow sophomore Ally Howe (1:54.05) beat A&M’s Lisa Bratton.

Cardinal rookie Ella Eastin won her third event of the weekend, going 1:53.34 for an “A” cut in the 200 fly. That gives us a little insight into what the versatile Eastin may swim at NCAAs – she’s likely a lock for the 200 and 400 IMs, but the 200 fly looks like an awfully good third event for the freshman after this weekend.

The other Stanford winner was Sarah Haase, who completed a breaststroke sweep with a 2:07.64 in the 200 breast. That beat out A&M’s duo of Esther Gonzalez (2:08.30) and Bethany Galat (2:09.10).

The Aggies did manage to win the 1650 free, with Sarah Gibson going 16:16.92 to top Stanford freshman Leah Stevens.

Team Scores

1. Texas A&M – 1166
2. Stanford – 833
3. LSU – 572.5
4. Boise State – 340.5
5. Utah – 326
6. San Diego State – 243
7. SMU – 174
8. Arizona State – 130
9. Nebraska – 53
10. TCU – 36

Men’s Meet

Like Texas A&M’s women, Utah’s men won the overall title despite just one event win on Saturday.

That came courtesy of Bence Kiraly, who was a triple-winner over the course of the week. He went an outstanding 14:50.19 to win the 1650 freestyle, besting the field by more than 30 seconds.

Arizona State won a trio of events, first getting a touchout 100 free win from junior Tadas Duskinas. Duskinas was 43.50 to eke out the win over LSU’s Alex Linge (43.56).

Duskinas would better that time while leading off ASU’s 400 free relay in 43.33. The Sun Devil squad of Patrick Park, Sean Kao and Barkley Perry finished in 2:54.84, good for a 1.5-second win over Air Force. Perry was also 43.3 on the anchor leg.

In between, Park won the 200 fly, going 1:44.72 to beat Utah’s Kristian Kron.

Texas A&M was second as a team, winning the 200 breast behind Mauro Castillo‘s 1:55.11. Early in the night, LSU freshman Thomas Smith won the 200 back, hitting an impressive 1:42.77 and beating Utah rookie Daniel McArthur.

Team Scores:

1. Utah – 838
2. Texas A&M – 777.5
3. Air Force – 701
4. LSU – 652
5. Arizona State – 419
6. SMU – 308
7. TCU – 177.5
8. Brigham Young – 2