Chloe Stepanek breaks 1:44.90 200 free, Lottie Cullen sets Houston record as TAMU leads Cougars

TEXAS A&M VS HOUSTON (WOMEN)

• Thursday, October 24, 2024
• Bryan-College Station, Texas
• SCY (25 yards)
• Final score: Texas A&M 200, Houston 100
• Results

Chloe Stepanek And Hayden Miller moved ahead of the Texas A&M women in a Thursday showdown against Houston in College Station as the Aggies earned a 200-100 victory over the Cougars.

Stepanek and Miller won two events each, while TAMU combined to win 13 of 16 events on the program, including both relays.

Stepanek, a fifth-grader, completed the 200-meter free (1:44.90) and the 200-meter back (1:55.86), the former marking her third sub-1:45 swim of the 2024-25 season.

The 22-year-old clocked a time of 1:44.22 at the SMU Classic two weeks ago, ranked first in the country, and also led Texas A&M’s 800 free relay with a time of 1:44.67.

Her swim in the 200 back was the third-fastest of her career, having run 1:54 once each of the last two seasons at the Texas A&M Last Chance Meet.

TAMU Sr Aviv Barzelay finished second in the 200 with a time of 1:56.91, her first race this season after missing the SMU Classic.

Miller, a junior, dominated the distance events with wins in the 500 free (4:46.31) and 1,000 free (9:40.57), the latter giving her a 24-second lead over the rest of the field.

Miller has personal best times of 4:36.60 in the 500-meter run and 9:33.45 in the 1,000-meter run. Her season best time in the 500-meter free is 4:43.39, set at the SMU Classic, which ranks her 8th nationally. Her time on Thursday in the 1000 free also ranks 8th this season.

Miller was also third in the 200 free, a 1-2-3 win for the Aggies Jordan Buechler (1:49.42) the runner-up behind Stepanek and Miller followed with 1:49.84.

The top performance for Houston came from the Irish rookie Lottie Cullenwho first tied and then broke the Cougars’ program record in the 100-meter backstroke.

Cullen clocked a time of 52.47 at the start of the meet to lead Houston’s 400 medley relay team, tying the school record he set Laura loading route in 2020. Cullen then took sole possession of the individual race record, topping Texas A&M’s with a time of 52.29 Kaitlyn Owen (53.00).

Cullen, 20, started her college career two weeks ago with a time of 54.50 at the Rice Fall Splash.

In the 400-meter medley relay, the Texas A&M quartet Owens, Bobbi Kennett, Olivia Theall and Stepanek combined for a time of 3:32.96, with Houston finishing second at 3:35.29 (full split times not available).

In the 400 free relay, Theall (50.56), Owens (49.50), Buechler (51.19) and Stepanek (48.84) combined for a time of 3:20.09, putting the Aggies close to fifth Seconds ahead of the Cougars (3:25.06).

OTHER WINNERS

• Houston’s Henrietta Fangli (1:00.33) and Evelyn Entrekin (1:00.86) went 1-2 in the 100 breaststroke, with Fangli’s swim placing 8th nationally. In the 200 breaststroke class, Houston Junior Flo Peter was the winner in 2:11.60, just over a second shy of her lifetime best from last season (2:10.52).
• Texas A&M Katie Walker dominated the 200-meter race, finishing as the only swimmer under 2:00 in a time of 1:57.51, bettering her season best of 1:58.61 at the SMU Classic.
• Owens (22.83) and Theall (22.91) led a 1-2-3-4 win for the Aggies in the 50 free, with Owens showing significant improvement from her mark last season (23.93). and came within three-tenths of her PB from the 2024 NCAAs (22.54).
• Theall was dominant in the 100, clocking in at 52.56, off her season best of 52.65 at the SMU Classic.
• Texas A&M Else Praasterink And Mayson Richards traded 1-2 placings in the diving events, with Praasterink leading the 3-meter dash (328.20) and Richards leading the 1-meter dash (289.28).
• Aggie freshmen Ella McQuinn shined in the 100m free, breaking the 50-second mark for the first time and taking a final win with 49.78. She also scored 48.87 points in TAMU’s B medley relay.
• Texas A&M Giulia Goerigk was 0.01 slower than the SMU Classic in the 200 IM and still cruised to a big win at 2:00.74.

FINAL RESULTS

1. Texas A&M, 200
2. Houston, 100