Dec. 01, 2018
COLLEGE STATION, Texas--- The No. 11 Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team beat Texas Christian University Saturday afternoon at the Texas A&M Student Recreation Natatorium.
"Going into the meet, we were hoping we could try some new things and that's where what we were able to do," Aggie head coach Jay Holmes said. "We moved some guys around to see what they could do in situations they weren't comfortable. This meet is what we needed; I know everyone is tired right now, but this gave us a chance to get in and race and I am pleased with the results."
The Aggies hit the ground running in the 200 yard medley relay sweeping the top three spots with freshman standout Shaine Casas leading the winning relay (1:28.06) alongside Benjamin Walker, Angel Martinez, and Clayton Bobo. They were followed by Anthony Kim, Tanner Olson, Adam Koster, and Mark Theall who came in second (1:30.65). Mike Thibert, Jerik Wong, Connor Long, and Coco Bratanov followed right behind them in third (1:32.57).
Texas A&M also grabbed the top three places in the 1000 yard freestyle with junior Benjamin Walker grabbing the gold medal in (9:23.25), with Felipe Rizzo (9:30.60), and Mark Schnippenkoetter (9:33.64) right behind.
Junior Adam Koster had two individual wins on the day in the 200 yard freestyle (1:39.13), and the 100 yard butterfly (50.25).
Casas continued his winning ways as he took home the gold in the 200 yard fly (1:48.70), while Thibert touched the wall first in the 50 yard freestyle (20.64).
Both freshman Jacob Schababerle and sophomore Tanner Olson earned their first wins on the season with Schababerle earning gold in the 200 yard breaststroke (2:04.69) and Olson touching the wall first in the 100 yard breaststroke (57.09).
Junior Anthony Kim won the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:48.07, while Mark Theall touched first in the 500 free in 4:34.87. Sophomore Hudson Smith was victorious in the 400 IM in 4:00.96. Angel Martinez took the victory in the 100 backstroke in 48.94.
Diving captain Sam Thornton dove into first place taking the top spot in the 3-meter dive (456.15). Thornton placed second in the 1-meter dive (378.30).
Sophomore Kurtis Matthews made his diving season debut taking first in the 1-meter dive (413.47), and finishing second in the 3-meter dive (375.68).
Texas A&M closed out the meet with a strong victory in the 200 freestyle relay with the foursome of Koster, Kim, Olson and sophomore Sean Morey winning by over a second in 1:22.70.