DENTON, Texas - The Mean Green was unable to hold off the powerful Aggies of Texas A&M in its final meet of the regular season, falling to A&M, 168-118, on senior night at the Pohl Recreation Center.
"Well its never a good feeling to get beat the way we did tonight, but I'm proud of the way we raced hard against one of the best teams in the NCAA," head coach Joe Dykstra said. "Texas A&M will definitely finish in the top 5 at NCAA's in March and it is a tremendous honor to have them come to our pool and let us compete against the best of the best."
Despite the loss, North Texas still turned in several solid performances most notably from sophomore Mona Groteguth, who led off for the 200 yard medley relay team that came in third to open the meet with a time of 1:46.14. She also placed third in the 200 yard backstroke with an impressive time of 2:03.28, only .13 behind Texas A&M's Meagan Hairston.
"Our five seniors have had great careers at North Texas and it is bittersweet to know they won't compete for us in our home pool again," coach Dykstra said. "I am so proud of all of them and we will definitely miss them next year."
Senior Joanna Wozniak performed well placing third on the 200 yard breast. Senior Bryn Lewis also swam well coming in second in the 100 yard butterfly with a mark of 59.31.
Senior Becca Ploetz was also a part of the third place finish by the NT 200 yard medley relay. She had the fastest split on the relay turning in a 24.10 second final leg. She also brought in a fourth place finish in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:01.33.
Senior Catia Weickgenant came in first out of all North Texas swimmers on the 100 yard freestyle posting a 54.40 time. She also came in first place in the 200 yard IM with a time of 2:11.14.
North Texas also swept the diving competition. Rebecca Taylor won the one-meter dive with a score of 252.00. Senior Delia Covo topped out her final home meet on top in the three-meter dive with a score of 256.28.
"Now we turn our attention completely to the Sun Belt Championships in 4 weeks," coach Dykstra continued. "We've got to do a great job with our last couple weeks of intense training before we taper down. Our focus is to start getting faster, more explosive, and to fine tune race strategies and techniques."
The Mean Green will return to action February 27 in Rockwall, Texas, for the Sun Belt Championships.
