The Arizona Wildcats have taken down #2 Stanford, #4 California, and now…the top seeded Texas Longhorns!  It has been an absolute incredible run this past week, and a turning into a great end to their dual meet season (which officially ends next week – February 13th against their rival – Arizona State).

On today’s meet, the men took a victory by the score of 181 – 171, and the ladies took home a “W” by upending the UT team 201 – 152.

Lady Wildcats and Lady Longhorns Fight It Out

Arizona Ladies started the meet by out-touching the Longhorn Ladies in the 200 medley relay 1:31.50 to 1:32.26.  Kathleen Hersey (Texas) beat out Alyssa Anderson (Arizona) in the 400 IM by almost :02.

In the 100 free, Justine Schluntz brought home a first place finish with a 49.89. Following the 100 free, the Lady Wildcats dominated the 200 backstroke with a first through sixth place finish.

Laura Sogar (Longhorns) retaliated in the 200 breaststroke taking first by over :02 from ‘Zona’s Annie Chandler that was soon negated by Ana Agy (Arizona) in the 100 fly where she beat out Hersey by only .05 seconds.

In another close race, Anderson won the 500 free event with a 4:48.61 which bested Leah Gringrich’s 4:48.65, and was followed up by a 1 – 2 finish in the 400 medley relay.

Gingrich attempted to turn the momentum on the ‘Zona ladies during the 1650 freestyle where she touched in for a first place finish at 16:42.53.  However, the Arizona ladies took over and started to realize that victory was near in the 200 medley relay (1 – 2 finish), and also completely dominated the 100 back led by Agy.

Chandler maintained the momentum leading a 1 – 2 finish in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:01.40, but Hersey managed to take the 200 fly from Anderson.

The Lady Longhorns tried to mount a resurrection in the 50 freestyle led by Bispo and Bethany Adams (respectfully first and second).  Hersey continued the stand with a win in the 200 IM (1:59.48).

the Arizona ladies finished off an outstanding meet with a 1 – 2 finale finish in the 400 free relay led by the team of Schluntz, Leone Vorster, Andrea Boritzke, and Emma Darlington.

Clash of the Titans

The men followed a similar path in the first event (200 free relay) with a 1:20.60 while the Longhorns touched at 1:21.04. ‘Zona then took first through fourth place in the 400 IM.

The Longhorn men finished first in the 100 free by only 3 one-hundredths of a second in front of Arizona’s Jordan Smith. Texas continued their first place finished with Justin Berens taking the 200 back defeating Cory Chitwood by .15 seconds.

During the 200 breaststroke Arizona took first through third finish led by Clark Burckle, but their momentum soon stopped in the 100 fly when Hill Taylor spearheaded a 1 – 2 – 3 finish. Texas continued the consecutive finishes in the 500 free taking both first and second lead by Jackson Wilcox.

Arizona started their comeback with a win in the 400 medley relay, and followed by the 200 medley relay, and a close second place finishes in the 1650 and 200 freestyle events.

Following the freestyle events, Texas’ Hill took first in the 100 back while ‘Zona took second, third, and fourth. Marcus Titus (Arizona) beat out Eric Friedland in the 100 breaststroke, but Texas took 1 – 2 in the 200 fly while Arizona took 3 – 4.

In the final individual events of what already was a close meet got event closer with the 50 freestyle where Jordan Smith (Arizona) touched at 20.18, Dave Walters and James Feigen (20.41 & 20.52) helped Texas and were soon followed into the finish by Robert Iddiols with a 20.56.

In the 200 IM Arizona’s Jack Brown (1:48.74) beat Austin Surhoff (1:50.93), and in the men’s finale event, Texas out-touched Arizona’s team by four one-hundredths of a second (2:57.24 vs. 2:57.28).

This was definitely an incredible meet for all swimmers and a great showdown between the two prolific coaches!  Thanks for keeping us fans on the edges of our seats for this one!!

Full Results – Texas vs. Arizona