Feb. 23, 2019
ATHENS, Ga. --- Texas A&M junior Benjamin Walker's victory in the 200-yard breaststroke, which was the men's program's first swimming conference title since joining the league, was the highlight of the Aggies' final day at the 2019 Southeastern Conference Championships.
Walker, from The Woodlands, Texas, took the early lead and never trailed as he cruised to the 200 breaststroke SEC crown in a lifetime-best and NCAA "A" qualifying standard time of 1:52.55. Walker also moves to No. 2 on A&M's all-time top 10 list in the race and becomes the second Aggie under 1:53 in the race.
"I'm so happy for Benjamin," Aggie head coach Jay Holmes said. "We've had a bunch of second and third place finishes here at the SEC Championships, and it's great to have that done and over with. It was a great job by Benjamin. He put a lot of pressure on himself to do it. For him to step up and get it done was a great swim for him."
In the team standings, the Aggies placed fourth with 907 points. Florida won the SEC crown for a seventh-straight year with 1,233 points, followed by Missouri (1,137), Tennessee (917), Texas A&M, Georgia (862.5), Alabama (789.5), Kentucky (672), Auburn (661.5), South Carolina (565) and LSU (486.5).
"Finishing fourth isn't what we came here to do," Holmes said. "As a team, we wanted better. As a team, we had higher expectations. There are so many great teams here and it's a testament to the strength of this conference. We set 10 school records here, so there were so many things we had to be happy about, but it was also a mixed bag. We know we're better than that and we're going to keep working to get where we want to be."
The Aggies broke another school record on the final day of the SEC Championships with freshman Shaine Casas lowering his own record in the 200 backstroke (1:39.84). Joining Walker with an award podium appearance on Saturday was Casas in the 200 backstroke (2nd).
Saturday's Race Recaps
1650 Freestyle: Freshman Luke Stuart led the way for the Aggies in the 1650 with a lifetime best time of 15:08.00 and 13th place finish. Fellow freshman Mark Schnippenkoetter placed 17th in 15:15.91 and sophomore Felipe Rizzo took 21st in 15:22.17. Stuart moves to No. 3 on the Aggies' all-time top 10 list in the mile, while Schnippenkoetter improves from No. 8 to No. 4.
100 Backstroke: Freshman Shaine Casas places second in the 100 backstroke with time of 1:39.84 while lowering his own school record and becoming the first Aggie under 1:40 in the race.Freshman Ethan Gogulski won the 200 backstroke consolation final in lifetime best 1:41.35.
100 Freestyle: Junior Adam Koster misses his 100 free school record from the morning by .02, places 5th in 42.40. Junior Mike Thibert places 12th (43.37), while Clayton Bobo and Mark Theall chip in 20th and 21st finishes.
200 Breaststroke: Walker, from The Woodlands, Texas, took the early lead and never trailed as he cruised to the 200 breaststoke SEC crown in a lifetime-best and NCAA "A" qualifying standard time of 1:52.55. Walker also moves to No. 2 on A&M's all-time top 10 list in the race and becomes the second Aggie under 1:53 in the race. Also contributing significant points in the race was sophomore Hudson Smith, who placed 11th in a huge lifetime best of 1:56.17. Smith lopped over four seconds off his seed time to earn his first spot in a SEC final in the prelims (1:57.24) and then dropped nearly another full second to claim the third spot in the consolation final. With his lifetime best effort, Smith now ranks sixth among Texas A&M's top 10 performers in the race.
Platform Dive: Senior Sam Thornton chipped in 14 points with a 13th-place finish in the platform dive with a score of 312.95.
400 Free Relay: The 400 free relay of Adam Koster, Mike Thibert, Mark Theall and Clayton Bobo closed out the meet with a sixth-place finish in a season-best time of 2:52.04.