Arizona swimming and diving left Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin with a victory over Southern Methodist University and a loss to Texas on Saturday.

The No. 14 men’s and No. 11 women’s teams took 11 first-place finishes in 40 events collectively, but their efforts fell short of No. 1 (men) and No. 6 (women) Texas’ 23 top finishes, including three 1-2-3 sweeps.

The Wildcat men out-scored SMU 241-128 and lost to Texas 241-126, while the women snuck by the Mustangs 193.5-176.5 and lost 213-159 to the Longhorns.

Arizona secured 13 NCAA “B” cut qualifications over the weekend, earning it a potential bid to the NCAA Championship in March.

Among those who qualified was Michael Meyer, who won the 200-yard backstroke in 1:45.81 and the 400y IM event in 3:48.84 on day one; Meyer earned first in the 200y IM in 1:47.24 on day two of the two-day meet.

Bonnie Brandon continued to show off her swimming skill set last weekend. She recorded first-place finishes in the 1000y freestyle (9:39.03), 500y free (4:46.92) and 200y (1:55.58) backstroke. Her third-place finish in the 100y backstroke also earned her a B qualification.

Taylor Schick placed second in the 100y and 200y freestyle events behind SMU’s Nathalie Lindborg and Texas’ Madisyn Cox, respectively. Her 200y time of 1:47.74 earned her a B cut as well.

Emma Schoettmer’s fourth-place finish and Kevin Cordes’ runner-up performance in the 200y breaststroke added two more potential NCAA qualifications for the Wildcats. Cordes, a senior, also finished second in the 100y breast behind junior teammate Andrew Sovero to earn two more qualifying times.

On the diving side, Rafael Quintero beat Texas’ Mark Anderson by 38.35 points in the platform event for an easy 428.65 victory. He also finished third in the 1-meter and 3m events.

Samantha Pickens proved victorious for the women in the 3m dive but fell short of Longhorn diver Emma Ivory-Ganja by .20 in the 1m event.

The women’s team was only down to Texas 90-96 after day one, but the Longhorns’ strong presence, including a podium sweep of the 200y IM event, proved to be too much for Arizona to stand.

Arizona hosts ASU on Saturday at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center at 1 p.m. for senior day and the team’s last home meet of the season.

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