ATKINSON SWIMS TWO LIFETIME BEST TIMES IN TEXAS A & M WIN

November 3, 2006

COLLEGE STATION, Texas- The ninth-ranked Texas A&M women’s swimming & diving team validated its top 10 ranking with an impressive 174-125 win over the University of Texas in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown at the Student Rec Center Natatorium on Friday night.

“The girls were very fired up for this meet,” A&M head coach Steve Bultman said. “This is a big win for us. It was one of our goals this season and it feels great to accomplish it.”

A&M won 11 of the 16 events contested, including eight of the first nine races, which proved more than enough to hold off a small surge by the Longhorns towards the end of the meet.

Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson, who is a freshman, clipped a full second off the A&M all-time record in the 100-yard breaststroke, defeating five-time Big 12 champion Elizabeth Tinnon with a lifetime best and NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:00.17. Tinnon finished second in 1:00.45. Atkinson set a second lifetime-best mark in a runner-up finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:14.91).

Atkinson and her Aggie teammates will spend the next two weeks preparing for the Art Adamson Invitational to be held Nov. 17-19 at the Student Rec Center Natatorium.

Click here for a full report on the meet

(Adapted from a report on the Texas A&M website)