UT Women’s Swimming and Diving Team Upsets No. 1 Georgia

By Jordan Schraeder in Special, Sports on January 10, 2012 at 3:05 pm | No Comments

It was like déjà vu in the Lee and Joe Jamail Swim Center in Austin this past Saturday. The Longhorns of the women’s swimming and diving team upset the first-place Georgia Bulldogs during senior day—and this isn’t the first time.

The last time the Bulldogs lost, in fact, was to UT back in 2010 here in Austin—and the Longhorns were all too happy to break Georgia’s two-year winning streak for a second time.

“Georgia is a great team, and it is fun to be a spoiler to some degree,” head coach Kim Brackin said in a statement after the big win.

Leading the upset were seniors Karlee Bispo, Leah Gingrich, Katie Riefenstahl, Kierstin Thornhill, and Becca Tomlin. Bispo, last year’s Big 12 Conference Women’s Swimmer of the Year, dominated her races, claiming first place in the 50, 100, and 200-yard freestyles, and helping her relay team claim victory in the 200-yard medley.

Other standouts: fellow senior Leah Gingrich nabbed first in the 200 butterfly, and junior diver Shelby Cullinan led the Texas divers, taking the top spot in the three-meter event.

“It is really exciting to get a win over a great team, especially on my senior day,” Gingrich said. “It is fun to go into a meet like that with great competition. We have gone back and forth with Georgia every year I have been here, so it was nice to beat them both times here in Austin.”

Next up for the Texas Women’s Swimming and Diving Team: a match against Auburn in Alabama tomorrow night, then they are headed back to the Forty Acres for the USA Swimming Austin Grand Prix on Jan. 12.

UT diver Samantha Holland. Photo courtesy UT Athletics.

Tags: diving, Kim Brackin, Lee and Joe Jamail Swim Center, swimming