In a meet rescheduled to Saturday because of Friday’s inclement weather, Texas defeated Texas A&M 170-127.5 with 10 wins from eight different swimmers.
The confusion didn’t stop with the weather as swimmers on both teams were forced to compete in different events than initially planned as a result of the day change.
“Very rapidly, we were grabbing people and saying, ‘No, you’re not in the backstroke; you’re in the butterfly,’ which is their special event, or ‘You’re not going to swim in the breaststroke; you’re going to swim the 200 individual medley or 400 individual medley,’” said Texas assistant coach Kris Kubik. “It was good. It was a wake-up call for the boys that they’re not invincible.”
Cole Cragin, Scott Spann, Neil Caskey and Jimmy Feigen began the meet with a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay.
Cragin then captured Texas’ first win in the 100 backstroke while freshman Madison Wenzler finished in second. Caskey followed up with wins in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly races while freshman Miles Joye finished second in both.
Dax Hill added another win for the Longhorns in the 100 freestyle, and Feigen and Scott Jostes followed close behind in second and third.
Texas then swept the podium in the 200-yard backstroke before landing the top two spots in the 200 breast.
Texas junior Jackson Wilcox had the best individual performance of the meet, winning the 500 freestyle in four minutes and 17.79 seconds. He now ranks second nationally in the event.
“My confidence is way higher than I thought it would be,” Wilcox said. “That’s a great swim for me right now. I’m really excited about it, and I’m really excited for our team. We’ve got a lot of good things going for us right now.”
Jostes, the Hill brothers and Joye finished the meet with a win in the 200 freestyle relay.
“Jackson Wilcox had a great swim and sort of spearheaded the drive, and a lot of people rose to the occasion, and it was something that we needed to do as a group,” Kubik said. “We have great team chemistry this year; we have great camaraderie. We have a lot of guys who are willing to do anything for Texas.”
The meet was Texas’ final tune-up prior to the Big 12 Championships on Feb. 23 in Austin.
