 "Photo: Erik Reyna/The Daily Texan")
This year, there is more pressure than ever on the team to accumulate points and beat the Aggies, who come to Austin to take on the Longhorns as a part of the State Farm Lone Star Showdown.
In August, head coach Kim Brackin and volleyball head coach Jerritt Elliott thought of an idea in which all of Texas’ women’s sports teams could feel a sense of togetherness as the one big team which is UT.
“We want a sense of oneness among all of our sports,” said Brackin. “It drives home the sense of family we already have at Texas.”
The State Farm Lone Star Showdown will pave the way to realize this idea. At today’s meet, the Longhorns will be wearing T-shirts that feature the showdown trophy on the front and a schedule on the back.
The team members competing in the showdown wear the shirts that day, record their wins and losses on them and pass the shirts on to the next team on the schedule.
“All of us take pride in trying to win that title back. It should be a meaningful thing if, after the match, you write down whether you earned that crucial point or half-point,” Brackin said.
Brackin knows that her team’s point is not guaranteed. Both Texas A&M and Texas have two of the best teams in the nation. When asked earlier in the season who she felt was going to be Texas’ biggest competition in the Big 12 and NCAA, Brackin said, “A&M in both regards. They have what I consider to be probably their best team. They are hungry to earn back the title.”
Even though it’s early in the season and things don’t heat up in swimming until the Big 12 and NCAA championships, the team always tries to perform their best.
“The time of the season doesn’t really matter,” Brackin said. “What matters is that it is A&M, and it’s our big rival. You know we put a big emphasis this year on [the State Farm] Lone Star Showdown. We’re racing for the pride of our team and for the pride of the University.”
The two teams met earlier this season in the Big 12 relays, where A&M won the event with 109 points and Texas finished second with 103. Last season, Texas took 11 of 16 events against A&M and beat them 169-131. It was the Horns first regular-season win against A&M in three years.
This meet will feature four Olympians who swam in Beijing and represented four different countries. Among them are Texas sophomore Kathleen Hersey, whom collegeswimming.com selected as its NCAA Division I Women’s Swimmer of the Week after winning four individual events at last weekend’s meet in Indiana, Texas senior Susana Escobar, and A&M’s Julia Wilkinson and Alia Atkinson. Hersey was a finalist in the 200m butterfly for the U.S. while Wilkinson represented Canada as a finalist in three events. Escobar represented Mexico, and Atkinson represented Jamaica.
“From the 100 free and up, we have really good experience,” Brackin said. “We have girls who can score at the NCAA level.”
In preparation for the long season, the team is working on skills, quality of turns, starts and technique earlier in the season. The program hired a new strength coach, and the team is lifting heavier in the weight room than in previous years which they hope will result in greater success.
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