College Swimming: UTPB women finish second to Incarnate Word

The main goal for the UTPB women's swimming team was not winning its own meet on Saturday.

And it's a good thing, too.

Incarnate Word flexed its muscle at the UTPB Invitational to win 14 of the 15 races and score 919 points to outdistance runner-up UTPB, which finished second with 563 points at the Falcon Cube.

UTPB knew Incarnate Word was going to be strong, so the Lady Falcons focused on getting their season off to a good start in their first meet.

"This was our first big meet to be under pressure," said senior Kelly Stevens, one of UTPB's six captains. "We have more girls than we had last year, and we can keep improving."

Wyoming transfer Allie Lape finished third in both the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle races to highlight several solid times turned in by the Lady Falcons.

UTPB junior Amanda Armack came through with a second-place finish in the 100-meter breaststroke, and freshman Audra Fitch got her Falcons career off to a solid start with third-place finishes in the 50 and 200 freestyle.

"We had some good individual swims," UTPB coach Rob Rankin said. "Our girls performed a lot better than we expected in a lot of races."

McMurry's Erin Johnson won the 100 butterfly by one-tenth of a second to beat Incarnate Word swimmers who finished second through fourth.