Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving both in second after first day of Texas Invitational
AUSTIN, Texas -- Junior diver Bailey Gao captured the three-meter competition with 349.95 points while freshman Michael Klueh swam a career best of 4:18.58 in the men's 500-yard freestyle - hitting NCAA Automatic qualifying standards en route to a third-place finish - and the women's 200-yard freestyle relay team of freshman Hee-Jin Chang, freshman Lina Petersson, senior Jaclyn Faulkner and junior Katie Robinson took second with a consideration qualifying time of 1:31.79 - to lead The University of Texas men's and women's swimming and diving teams on the first day of competition at the Texas Invitational at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on Thursday. At the conclusion of the first day, the Texas men's squad sits in second place with 224 team points, topped only by Arizona in first with 268 points. California rounds out the top three for the men with 174 points. Meanwhile, Texas' women's team finished with 261.50 points, just two points behind Arizona, which is in first with 263.50, with Wisconsin in third with 226.50 points after the first day. Gao is fresh off receiving his November Big 12 Diver of the Month accolades and did not disappoint, taking his seventh first place finish of the season, fourth overall on 3-meter dives. The men's 200-yard relay team finished under NCAA consideration standard qualifying time of 1:19.66 and placed third. Sophomore Dan Rohleder narrowly missed NCAA consideration standards in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing just .07 off the 48.66 requirement with a 48.73 time and a sixth-place finish. For the women, sophomore Macie Garrett also a strong showing with a fifth place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing with a NCAA consideration qualifying time of 4:49.49. Chang also placed seventh in the women's 50-yard freestyle with a NCAA consideration time of 23.11. Faulkner also qualified under consideration standard in the consolations heat with a time of 22.98. Senior Elizabeth Wycliffe placed fourth in the women's 200-yard individual medley with a NCAA consideration qualifying time of 2:01.87. Junior Elaine Ferritto also qualified for NCAA consideration with a time of 2:01.77 in the consolations heat. The University of Texas men's and women's swimming and diving programs return to the Jamail Texas Swim Center on Friday for the second day of competition at the Texas Invitational. The action gets underway with preliminary swims at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.
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