From the start, Arizona proved it was serious about defending its NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships title.
From the start of the evening session, that is.
Arizona used a strong push in the finals to score 141.5 points and lead after the first of three days at the Championships at Texas A&M's Student Rec Center Natatorium. Georgia is in second at 133 followed by California (126), Stanford (105), Auburn (91.5), Texas (75) and A&M (71). Southern California at 57, Wisconsin (46.5) and Tennessee (46) round out the Top 10.
Arizona coach Frank Busch wasn't so confident his team would be leading after the first day following the morning preliminaries.
"We were a little shaky this morning," Busch said. "I didn't feel we had the energy we needed. I'm not sure why that was. I was really proud of the way we performed tonight. It was like two different teams."
Busch felt the Wildcats missed on some opportunities and could have put a few more swimmers into the point-scoring consolation races (spots nine through 16).
Still, it didn't take long for Busch to know the evening session would go more to his liking.
The Wildcats defended their title in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1 minute, 26.20 seconds -- 0.7 seconds faster than the NCAA record they established last year. Lara Jackson, the star of the first night, got the Wildcats a big lead with a split of 21.27, good for 0.64 seconds of a margin.
"I've been the first Wildcat in the pool for three years now leading off the first relay, and I do try to take it upon myself to try and inspire whoever is behind me," Jackson said, "because I know if I see a great swim before I swim I get pumped up."
Lindsey Kelly, Justine Schluntz and Taylor Baughman kept the rest of the field at bay. Jackson and Baughman were members of the winning team last season.
Jackson set another meet record in defending her 50 freestyle title in 21.75. Then she closed out the night by helping Arizona win the 400 medley relay.
"I'm happy," Jackson said. "Three titles in one night." Jackson said. "Me personally, I came her to defend my title and better my time which I did. So I'm thrilled but ready for tomorrow."
Ana Agy, Annie Chandler and Dana Christ gave Jackson a big lead in the medley relay. By the time Jackson was in the pool, there was little doubt the Wildcats would win as she was handed more than a second lead.
Georgia made its push to stay in the team chase with a 1-2 finish in the 500 freestyle.
Georgia's Allison Schmitt passed Auburn's Maggie Bird three-quarters of the way through the race, then Georgia's Wendy Trott pushed Bird back another spot in the pentultimate lap. Schmitt finished in 4:35.17, while Trott came in at 4:36.20.
Twenty of fourth-place Stanford's 105 points came from Julia Smit, who took the lead during the breaststroke of the 200 individual medley and went on to beat Kathleen Hersey, Texas' top performer of the night.
A&M's foursome of Maria Sommer, Marissa Jasek, Sarah Woods and Triin Aljand placed sixth in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:28.14.
Aljand began her leg tied for seventh, quickly pulled ahead of Georgia then passed Louisville's Liz Halet.
The Aggies then scored points in the 500 freestyle thanks to Christine Marshall and Codie Hansen. Marshall was fifth (4:42.19) in the consolation and Hansen eighth (4:43.98).
Alia Atkinson added to A&M's points total with a seventh-place finish in the 200 IM consolation.
"I was pleased, because on paper we weren't supposed to score in the 500 free or the 200 IM," A&M coach Steve Bultman said. "We broke three school records today. It was good, and we're off to a good start."
The Aggies also got points from diver Jacie Patrick, who finished ninth in the 1-meter springboard event. Patrick just missed making the night session by 1.4 points and won the consolation dive.
Houston's Anastasia Pozdniakova, who holds the pool record in the 3-meter event, won on the 1-meter board by 12 points over Indiana's Christina Loukas.
Bultman was especially proud of the way the relay teams did in the evening session, with both relays moving up from the morning session.
"Lindsey King, this is her first time at NCAAs and she dropped a ton of time at conference and she stepped up tonight and had a great leadoff for us and then the rest of the girls finished it out and dropped nearly 2 seconds off our school record," Bultman said.
Triin Aljand had six swims on the first day and added a fourth in the 50 free (21.93) to the sixth in 200 freestyle relay and a tie for fourth in the consolation 400 medley relay, which she swam the butterfly.
"She had a great anchor on the relay, did her best time in the 50 free, was a little slower in the 100 fly than what we would like but that was her sixth race of the day," Bultman said.
Aljand admitted it was a long day and that she got tired, even having to take a breath near the end of each 50, which is something she normally does not do.
The medley relay team consisted of Lindsey King (backstroke) Atkinson (breaststroke) Aljand (butterfly and Marshall (freestyle).
"I think we did really well in the relays. I was really proud of the girls," Aljand said. "I think that was my highest [individual] finish, so I'm really proud of that, but I would have liked to go a little faster."
The meet picks up with preliminaries at 11 a.m. Friday and finals at 7 p.m.
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