The No. 16 Texas A&M women’s swim and dive team earned third place in the Art Adamson Invitiational behind USC, 750 points, and Alabama, 792, with 667 points at the end of the three-day long competition from Wednesday, Nov. 16 to Friday, Nov. 18.
The Aggies began the invitational with a fifth-place finish with freshman Hadley Beeson and juniors Olivia Theall, Chloe Stepanek, Bobbi Kennett swimming a time of 1:27.78. In the following 500-yard freestyle, Stepanek earned third with a 4:44.06 time. Junior Abby Grottle finished fifth with a career-best time of 4:45.83 while graduate Mollie Wright, 4:47.26, and freshmen Rachel Love, 4:47.81, and Kaylee Coffey, 4:51.45, lowered their times as they added points for A&M.
Continuing into Day 1 of the competition, Kennett finished seventh in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:59.01 as Stepanek finished sixth in the 50-yard freestyle with a 22.43 time. Closing out the first day, the 400-yard medley relay team of junior Jordan Buechler, Theall, Kennett and Stepanek earned a third-place finish with a time of 3:31.20.
A&M started off the second day of the invitational strong with four top-two finishes by the end of the night. Junior Charlotte Longbottom, Buechler, Theall and Stepanek kicked off the day with a fourth-place finish in 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:37.81. Freshman Giulia Goerigk took first place in the 400-yard individual medley, clocking in at 4:05.75, while Grottle, 4:15.89, sophomores Joelle Reddin, 4:15.05, and Alice Marini, 4:15.64, and freshmen Lydia Palmer, 4:20.06, and Blakely Schuricht, 4:20.42, contributed more points.
The Aggies carried on as Theall took second place in the 100-yard butterfly with a personal best time of 51.25 while Stepanek beat sophomore Aviv Barzelay, Buechler and Wright in the 200-yard freestyle coming in at 1:43.83. The Aggies had fifth- and sixth-place finishes in the 100-yard breaststroke as Kennett and Longbottom clocked in at 1:00.47 and 1:00.52, respectively. The maroon and white continued adding points with top-11 finishes in the 100-yard backstroke from Buechler, 53.84, and Barzelay, 54.56. A second-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay finished off the Aggies’ second day with Stepanek, Wright, Buechler and Goerigk swimming a time of 7:08.24.
The final day of competition began with a top-three finish in the 200-yard backstroke from Barzelay, 1:54.56, and a top-eight finish from Goerigk, 1:59.76. Stepanek came in second for the 100-yard freestyle event, finishing with a time of 47.94 while Buechler, 49.19, and Kennett, 49.74, also added points. Junior Desirae Mangaoang posted a top-eight finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 2:12.00 time as Theall lowered her career best with a 1:54.81 time to finish second in the 200-yard butterfly. Closing out the final day of the invitational, the Aggies earned second place in the 400-yard freestyle relay with Buechler, Kennett, Theall and Stepanek finishing with a 3:15.49 time.
The Aggies are set to continue its 2022 season against Rice on Saturday, Dec. 3 inside the Rec Center Natatorium.