The Texas A&M women’s swimming and diving team matched last year’s result with its second-consecutive fourth place team finish at the NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.
The fourth place finish ties A&M’s highest team result in school history.
Seniors Breeja Larson, Cammile Adams and Paige Miller all brought home individual titles for the Aggies, marking the best individual performance in A&M history at the NCAAs.
“We had some outstanding swims from a lot of people,” said head coach Steve Bultman. “Winning three individual titles at a single NCAA meet is the most we’ve ever had. Obviously, we’d like to have finished a little higher but top four is something to be proud of and we get to take some hardware home.”
Adams added to her championship resume by defending her national title in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:52.25. Adams will finish her career with two wins and two runner-up finishes in the 200 fly.
“I was in the moment and felt good so I went with it,” Adams said. “I’m very happy with the win but I was hoping to go faster. I can’t believe it’s over. It’s been so special swimming with these seniors for the last four years. I feel really honored to be a part of it.”
After claiming the individual title in the 100 breaststroke, Larson became the second swimmer in NCAA history to win three-straight NCAA titles. Despite breaking her own school, SEC, NCAA, U.S. Open and American records with a time of 57.23 on Friday, Larson said she still has room for improvement.
“I actually hoped to go faster,” Larson said. “My goal is to get 56 [seconds]. It might take me another year, but that’s what I have my sights set on.”
Although Larson was the third-seed going into the final for the first time in her career, the victory makes her the only A&M swimmer with multiple NCAA titles to her name.
“This is the third time she’s won it, but it’s the first time she’s ever done it when she wasn’t seeded first going into the final,” Bultman said. “She was third, but she stepped up and took care of it.”
After finishing in the top 8 the past three seasons, senior and four-time 100 backstroke conference champ, Paige Miller, was able to claim her first national title. Miller swam to her first NCAA title after posting a winning time of 50.77, just seven-hundredths off her lifetime best of 50.70.
“She’s made the finals all four years, but for whatever reason she hadn’t been able to break through until tonight,” Bultman said. “She continued to improve, break school records and she was able to get it done tonight.”
The University of Georgia repeated as the team champion with 528 points followed by Stanford (402.5), California (386) and A&M (336).
The Aggies finish their season with a record of 8-0-1, including a league ledger of 5-0-1.