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No. 9 Texas Remains Unbeaten at 2001 Big 12 Championships

Feb 17, 2001

AUSTIN, Texas - The No. 9 Texas women's swimming and diving team maintained its unbeaten streak, as it swept the individual and relay events for the second consecutive night at the 2001 Women's Swimming and Diving Big 12 Championships at the Jamail Swim Center. Texas stands in first place with a total of 708.5 points, followed by Texas A&M (400.5), Nebraska (356.5), Iowa State (309.5), Missouri (268) and Kansas (266).

Senior Colleen Lanne (Tuscon, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic) again dominated in the finals, posting a conference meet record of 1:44.93 in the 200-yard freestyle. It would mark her second individual win, as she took home first in the 50 freestyle on Thursday.

The Longhorns opened the meet with their fourth consecutive title in the 200 medley relay. The team of Lanne, Kelley Robins (Houston, Texas/Atwy International), junior Helen Denman (Dalkeith, Australia/University of Western Australia) and senior Shona Kitson (Windsor, Ontario, Canada/Vincent Massey) cruised to a conference meet and pool record time of 1:38.38. The Longhorns broke the Jamail Swim Center record set by Stanford (Loveless, Sanders, Jorgensen, Thompson) in 1992.

Freshman Rachel Harris (Subiaco, Australia/Methodist Cadies Colllege) followed the Longhorn's trend in the 200 medley relay, posting her own Big 12 record in the 400 IM (4:14.58), while sophomore Emily Ballenger (Anderson, S.C./T.L. Hanna) touched fifth in a time of 4:24.11.

In the third event of the evening, Kitson pulled out a close win over teammate sophomore Tanica Jamison (Dubin, Calif./Dublin), as she set a conference meet record in the 100 fly (53.73). Jamison, the defending fly titlist, finished second in a time of 53.78.

Denman, in the 100 breaststroke event, kept Texas' streak of first-place finishes alive, when she record her first conference win in the 100 breaststroke. Denman notched an NCAA automatic time of 1:01.83, while Nebraska's Elvira Fisher finished in second (1:02.06).

In the final individual event of the night, junior Bethany Lindberg (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge) garnered her first conference title in the 100 backstroke (54.41). Texas finished the night with the foursome of Jamison, senior Erin Howarth (Shrewbury, Mass./Shrewbury), junior Lauren Martin (Houston, Texas/The Bolles School) and sophomore Erin Phenix (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline Academy) grabbing gold in the 800 freestyle (7:18.65).

At the 2001 Men's Big 12 Diving Championships, junior Troy Dumais (Ventura, Calif./Buena) captured his second consecutive Big 12 Conference title on the three-meter springboard. Competing in his first Big 12 Championships after transfering from USC last year, Justin Dumais (Ventura, Calif./Buena) placed second with a score of 635.95, while junior Harold Hyde (Austin, Texas/Westlake) finished sixth (506.30).

The 2001 Big 12 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships will wrap up on Saturday, Feb. 17 at the Jamail Swim Center with the swimming preliminaries beginning at 11 a.m and finals at 7 p.m.