Whilst also celebrating its seniors, the No. 11 Texas A&M women’s swimming & diving team closed out the dual-meet season with a 176-111 win over SMU. With the win, the Maroon and White will enter championship season riding a five-meet win streak.
Senior Abby Grottle left her mark in her final dual meet, getting personal bests en route to sweeping her individual events. She outpaced the competition with nine minutes and 40.14 seconds in the 1000-yard freestyle and headlined a 1-2-3 finish in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing at 1:46.75. Senior Chloe Stepanek and junior Aviv Barzelay notched second and third in the 200y freestyle, with 1:48.07 and 1:48.72.
Besides Grottle, a plethora of other Aggies came out on top during the meet, starting with the 200-yard medley relay. Composed of freshman Miranda Grana and seniors Bobbi Kennett, Olivia Theall and Chloe Stepanek, the relay’s time of 1:39.77 secured an early first place finish.
Riding a win early on from the 200y medley relay, Grana began her individual event with a top spot in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing with 52.95. Junior Kaitlyn Owens wasn’t far behind her, finishing second at 53.30.
Grana joined Grottle with sweeping individual events, and led the way to a 1-2 A&M finish in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing at 53.60. Freshman Ellis Fox scored second at 54.39.
Another A&M 1-2-3 finish happened again, making its appearance in the 100-yard breaststroke. Kennett grabbed top spot at 1:01.54, senior Charlotte Longbottom nailed second with 1:02.22 and sophomore Victoria Taylor rounded out third at 1:02.28.
Though the meet celebrated the seniors, A&M’s future shined bright as freshmen Katie Walker and Hannah O’Leary finished first in their respective events. Walker touched the wall at 1:59.61 in the 200-yard butterfly and O’Leary’s finish at 2:13.19 in the 200-yard breaststroke marked a season-best.
The Maroon and White extended their dominance to the springboards. A&M divers grabbed the top three spots in the 3-meter, led by sophomore Joslyn Oakley with a score of 371.55. Seniors Payton Props and Mayson Richards rounded out the last two top spots, scoring with 309.23 and 292.80 respectively.
Just like previous meets, Oakley swept the last diving event, finishing first in the 1-meter with a score of 315.83.
Stepanek and sophomore Hayden Miller punched home first place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke and 500-yard freestyle, with times of 1:56.13 and 4:45.90.
The past and future of A&M found its way to the top two spots in the 200-yard individual medley as Theall notched first at 2:00.60 and O’Leary finished second at 2:01.48.
The day closed out as it had begun, with a win in another relay event. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Stepanek, Owens, Barzelay and Fox combined for 1:32.19 to seize first place.
The Aggies close out the season at 10-1 and will head to Auburn, Alabama for SEC Championships from Feb. 19-24.
