Aggie Swimmers Shine at Mexican Olympic Trials

MONTERREY, Mexico --- A trio of Texas A&M women's swimmers combined to win 11 medals at the 2012 Mexican Olympic Trials.

The Aggie trio of senior Rita Medrano (Aguascalientes, Mexico), and sophomores Lili Ibañez (Celaya, GTO, Mexico) and Erica Dittmer (Houston, Texas) posted nine gold medals efforts, set one Mexican national record and broke four meet records at the competition.

Medrano was dominant with victories in four races as she swept the butterfly events at 50, 100 and 200 meters and also grabbed the win in the 400 IM. Medrano won the 50 fly in a meet record time of 27.70 and also turned in times of 1:00.19 in the 100 fly, 2:11.10 in the 200 fly and 4:55.36 in the 400 IM.

After missing the 2011-12 season due to a back injury, Ibañez returned to big-time competition with wins in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle. Ibanez won the 100 and 200 in meet record fashion, taking the 100 in 55.80 and the 200 in 2:01.25. She won the 50 free in 25.80 after posting a time of 25.71 in the prelims.

Dittmer grabbed two wins and two runner-up finishes. Dittmer broke the Mexican national record in the 200 IM with a time of 2:16.39 and won the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.00. She also placed second to Ibanez in the 50 free in 26.35 and was second in the 200 breast in 2:31.86.