AUSTIN, Texas - The University of Texas No. 2 men's and No. 6 women's swimming and diving teams both cruised to first-place finishes at the 2001 Texas Invitational, on Sunday, Dec. 2, at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin. The Texas men's team won the meet with 669 points, well ahead of second-place No. 13 Arizona State (549.50). The Longhorns women's squad posted 719 points in their victory, followed by second-place No. 1 Stanford with 598 points.

"I have to say that our team got better every session this weekend," Texas men's swimming head coach Eddie Reese said. "It was very important for our team to get out there and race and we had some lifetime best times out of our guys. We did some good things that the team can take into the break. I'm glad that we could end the fall season on a high note."

"Our team did a great job this meet working together, supporting each other and swimming at a high level," UT women's co-head swimming coach Mike Walker said. " I think that this was probably one of the fastest Texas Invitational's ever. Most of the top teams in the country were here this weekend and I feel that the team got a great look at where we stand as of now."

Leading the way for the UT men on the final day of competition was sophomore Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.). Hansen won the 200-yard breaststroke in 1:56.09, setting a new Texas Invitational meet record. The time was an automatic NCAA 'A' qualifying time and also currently stands as the nation's fastest collegiate 200 breaststroke time in 2001-02.

On the women's side, Texas was led by its 400 freestyle relay team of freshman Kaela Humphries (Chaska, Minn.), junior Tanica Jamison (Dublin, Calif.), sophomore-transfer Jenna Bridges (Tallahassee, Fla./Virginia) and senior-transfer Lauren Thies (Bend, Ore./Stanford). The quartet won the event in 3:19.35, which is an NCAA 'A' automatic qualifying mark. They were followed in third by UT's 400 free relay 'B' team of junior Erin Phenix (Cincinatti, Ohio), senior Lauren Martin (Houston, Texas), freshman Michelle Molina (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) and freshman Sarah Wanazek (Brookfield, Wis.), which touched in an NCAA 'B' consideration time of 3:20.66.

Senior Bethany Lindberg (Woodbridge, Va.) finished second in the 200 backstroke (1:58.08), while Phenix finished second in the 100 free. Both times are also NCAA 'A' cuts.

In diving, the Horns swept the men's platform event, with senior Justin Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) leading the way with a first-place 639.30 point total. He was followed by senior Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif.) in second with 540.60, freshman Jonathan Linette (Ft. Lauderdale, Calif.) in third with 492.40 and senior Harold Hyde (Austin, Texas) in fourth with 487.50. On the women's platform, freshman Nicole Pohorenec (Winter Springs, Fla.) captured first with 461.95 points.