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In a year that saw the Texas Men’s Swimming and Diving team earn many individual and team awards, it’s only fitting that the second ranked squad in the country claim a few more accolades at the season’s end. Texas won the Big 12 title in February and finished second at the National Championships last month.
Over the weekend, the Horns racked up a few more awards to add to a trophy case already bursting at the seams, as Texas claimed all five yearly Big 12 awards.
As senior swimmer Karlee Bispo mounted the platform for her last race at the NCAA Championships, she was struck with the realization that her days as a Longhorn were coming to a close.
“It was kind of a reality check that this is it and I won’t be a college student anymore,” she said. “It really does fly by. I know that’s so cliche but you just have to enjoy every moment.”
The American Short Course Relays, held at the Lee and Joe Jamail Swim Center, kicked off yesterday with a total of 10 events, five each for men and women. The three-day event is a final opportunity for swimmers from colleges across the country to earn points to qualify for the NCAA swimming championships. It also serves as a tune-up for those who have already qualified before they make their runs at national titles.
Texas moved a step closer towards extending its 15-year reign as conference champion of the Big 12 on Wednesday.
The conference championships, held in Columbia, Mo. started yesterday and will finish on Saturday. Competing for the men’s championship are the three schools sponsoring swimming programs in the Big 12: No. 2 Texas, No. 18 Texas A&M and No. 25 Missouri. Texas has won every Big 12 championship in history and will look to extend the streak to 16-straight over the course of the four-day championship.
Nick D’Innocenzo walked to the starting blocks in College Station three weekends ago with one thing on his mind: winning. As he broke down every stroke of the event, the race playing out in his mind like scenes from a movie. With the outcome already seen in his head, he dove in to realize the goal.
Receiving the Big 12 Swimmer of the Week award is an honor for any swimmer. Senior swimmer Karlee Bispo has now had that honor four times this season.
Last week, she became the first female swimmer in Big 12 conference history to receive the Big 12 Swimmer of the Week award four times in a single season.
Bispo, a senior freestyle champion and 11-time All-American, now holds the most career honors of any woman in Big 12 swimming and diving history.
Olympic dreams have long been in the making for swimming stars Karlee Bispo and Laura Sogar, but they aren’t letting the looming trials cramp their style in the pool during collegiate competition.
Bispo, a senior, and Sogar, a junior, are two of the women’s top contenders for spots on the Olympic team, among a group of other teammates who qualified for trials.
On a team ranked No. 2 in the country, it can be difficult to stand out. Senior swimmer Neil Caskey has done this and more for the Longhorns all season long.
Caskey has dominated the competition this season, winning at least one event in every meet except one. To those closest to the team this comes as no surprise.
With the first half of the 2011-2012 season coming to a close, the Longhorns stand as one of the top teams in the nation and have spread the success among veterans and newcomers alike.
Texas only has one blemish on its record to this point, as UT dropped a competition in the dual meet with Indiana and Michigan, falling by one point against the Wolverines.
The Longhorns tasted defeat last week, but with many great performances already under their belt, it won’t likely become a habit.
Despite splitting a win and a loss in the dual meets with Indiana and Michigan, Texas is swimming at a high level and is currently ranked No. 2 in the CSCAA Poll.
Senior Neil Caskey has been the most pleasant surprise this season, recently being awarded the Big 12 Swimmer of the Week honors following his four wins in the last two meets.
The Longhorns performed at a high level this weekend but came away with a bittersweet taste in their mouths as they split the dual meet with Indiana and Michigan.
Texas outscored the Hoosiers 217.5-82.5 but came up short a point to Michigan, 150.5-149.5.
The men won seven of the 16 events, including five individual competitions and both of the relay events.
Senior Neil Caskey
The Longhorns have won their first three competitions of the year and are in great position going into today’s meet with conference foes Texas A&M.
Senior captain Karlee Bispo is off to her usual great start, propelling the Longhorns to victory at the SMU Classic, earning herself the honor of Big 12 Swimmer of the Week.
Men’s swimming: Southwest Collegiate Plunge
Pure domination characterized the Longhorns’ performance this weekend in the Southwest Collegiate Plunge. The team captured the title by totaling 796 points — 46 more than second-place Texas A&M — for its first win of the year.
UT Olympians earned 14 medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, enough to tie with Kenya for 18th in the national medal count.
Some of UT’s former and current Olympians returned to campus to share their stories.
The Longhorns will be united as a team this Friday as they travel to Ann Arbor for an annual dual meet with Indiana and Michigan. The three schools have met five years in a row for this dual meet, with the Longhorns emerging victorious over the Hoosiers and Wolverines the past three meetings.
After opening the season with a team victory at the SMU Classic last weekend, the Longhorns are primed to continue this success in the first real meet of the year.
The Longhorns are set to start the season with a bang as they head to Mansfield for the Southwest Collegiate Plunge.
The Plunge is a two-day event that features many competitive teams in the Southwest region including Texas, Missouri, SMU and Texas A&M. The Longhorns have dominated this event in the past, as they go into Friday’s meet as two-time defending champions.
Coming into this season, the Longhorns are extremely motivated as last season ended with a bittersweet second-place finish at the National Championships.
Ashley Brewer is an emerging star for Texas, one who is probably most known for her decorated sports family. Yet Brewer, a sophomore and one of the key members of the Longhorns’ swimming team, walks a path all her own.
“I started swimming at five years old and just had a natural feel for the water,” Brewer said. “All of my siblings started with swimming but I was kind of the natural of the family and fell in love and stuck with it.”
The Longhorns are primed and ready to make a splash.
After finishing the 2010-2011 season ranked No. 4 in the nation, the Longhorn women’s swimmers and divers placed sixth at the NCAA Championships. Despite the bittersweet nature that the season brought, the women had many things to smile about as they were a Scholar All-America team and possessed the Big 12 swimmer and coach of the year just like their male counterparts.
With expectations as high as ever, the Horns look to follow through and correct missed opportunities.
The Longhorns are loaded again.
Although her season ended almost three months ago, junior Karlee Bispo is still reaping the rewards of her performances both in the pool and in the classroom.
Fresh off of a dominant performance Saturday against visiting SMU, Texas looks to continue its winning ways at the University of Houston’s CRWC Natatorium tonight.
The Longhorns head into Wednesday’s Sprint for the Cure meet looking to extend their winning streak, which extends back to a win against Arizona on Jan. 29.
Their consecutive victories have moved them up two spots to No. 4 in the latest College Swimming Coaches of America poll. The team shares the spot with California while Stanford remains top dog.
Following a huge win over Arizona, No. 4 Texas (5-1) faces No. 19 Texas A&M for Senior Day in its last regular-season meet Friday. Seniors Jim Robertson, Scott Jostes, Scott Spann, Bryan Collins and Brian Wilson will be honored before the meet.
Last season, the Longhorns defeated the Aggies 141-100.
Hundreds of swimmers descended on the University of Texas last weekend for the Austin Grand Prix. This meet, which was hosted by USA Swimming at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, is one of seven national Grand Prix meets sponsored by the official US swimming organization which sponsors the Olympic team. Each swimmer who competes and places in the top three during the final heat receives points based on their performances. At the end of the series, the swimmer with the highest point total is crowned the Grand Prix Champion.
Laura Sogar is a nationally known swimmer and one of the Longhorns’ best. However, the decision to begin swimming was not one that she made for herself — she credits her parents with that decision.
“My parents chose [swimming] for me so I wouldn’t drown,” Sogar said. “We had a backyard pool and they wanted me to be safe in it.”
