TEXAS A&M V. SMU
- Friday, Jan. 26th, 2018
- Texas A&M Natatorium
- Short course yards
- Results
SCORES
- Texas A&M 135, SMU 90 (exhibition impacted)
In a final tune-up before the SEC Championships, the Texas A&M men rolled to a victory over the visiting SMU Mustangs.
Mauro Castillo had a very strong 200 breast to highlight the Aggie effort last night, as he cruised to a time of 1:56.69 to go 1-2 with teammate Ben Walker (1:58.21). Castillo also had a quick fly leg on A&M’s A 400 medley relay, splitting a 46.79 as the Aggies went 1-2-3-4 in that opening relay.
Jose Martinez was one of two double winners on the day. The A&M junior took both the 200 free (1:39.78) and the 200 fly (1:46.81). Adam Koster swept the sprint frees, taking both the 50 (20.15) and the 100 (44.38).
Brock Bonetti won the 200 IM (1:50.03), Anthony Kim took the 200 back (1:45.01), and Felipe Rizzo won the 500 free (4:29.04) as the Aggies only gave up one swimming event. SMU’s Jonathan Gomez took the 1000, going 9:18.72 to beat out Rizzo (9:21.32).
PRESS RELEASE – A&M
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The ninth-ranked Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving team closed out the 2017-18 regular season with a 135-90 win over longtime rival SMU at the Student Recreation Natatorium on Friday.
With the win, the Aggies improved to 7-1 as they gear up for next month’s SEC Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be contested Feb. 14-18 in Texas A&M’s home pool.
It was Senior Night for the Aggies and the eight-member Senior Class of 2018 was honored prior to the competition — Brock Bonetti (Bakersfield, Calif.), Mauro Castillo(Zacatecas, Mexico), Tyler Henschel (Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada), Cameron Kerr (League City, Texas), Clay McAnany (San Antonio, Texas), Justin Morey (Houston, Texas), Duncan Mulleady (Flower Mound, Texas), and Jonathan Tybur (The Woodlands, Texas)
Head Coach Jay Holmes:
(On Senior Night) “Senior nights are hard because they have a lot of emotions going on, but they still have compete,” Holmes said. “Every class has so many memories that they’ve built together and then when they realize it’s the last time that they are going to represent Texas A&M in a dual meet it can be a very emotional experience for these guys. It’s bittersweet for me. It’s amazing how fast the years go by. Sometimes the days are kind of long, but the years just fly on by.”
(On his team’s performance vs. SMU) “We still did not look sharp out there. We don’t have a lot of speed in places yet, but we’re still several weeks out and we have time to get it. There are some things that we’re going to have to get done. We need to be crisper on almost everything we’re doing.”
Notables
- With the win, the 2018 Senior Class became the fifth Texas A&M senior class to finish its career with a 4-0 record against the Mustangs. They also became the third class to sweep longtime rivals SMU and LSU all four years.
- It was the Aggies’ sixth straight win over the Ponies.
- Holmes improved to 9-5 against SMU as Texas A&M head coach.
- The Aggies won 12 of 13 events against SMU, including at least the top two spots in nine events.
- The Aggies opened and closed the meet with relay wins. The all-senior foursome of Bonetti, Castillo, Tybur and Morey won the 400 medley relay in 3:16.37 to open the night, and the group of junior Steven Richardson, sophomore Raiz Tjon-a-joe, sophomore Adam Koster and junior Jerik Wong closed the meet with a 400 freestyle relay win in 3:04.57.
- Tallying multiple individual wins were junior Angel Martinez and Koster. Martinez was victorious in the 200 freestyle (1:39.78) and the 200 butterfly (1:46.81), while Koster won the 50 free (20.15) and 100 free (44.38).
- Other Aggies tallying victories were Bonetti in the 200 IM (1:50.03), junior Sam Thornton in the three-meter dive (393.30 points), sophomore Anthony Kim in the 200 backstroke (1:45.01), freshman Felipe Rizzo in the 500 free (4:29.04), Castillo in the 200 breaststroke (1:56.69) and junior Skylar Lake in the one-meter dive (340.95).
Next up…
- Texas A&M will host the 2018 SEC Championships Feb. 14-18 at the Rec.
PRESS RELEASE – SMU
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (SMU) – The SMU men’s swimming and diving team fell at No. 9 Texas A&M in its final dual meet of the 2017-18 season.
Senior Jonathan Gomez registered the Mustangs’ lone win of the evening, posting a career-best 9:18.72 in the 1,000-yard freestyle. He went on to place second in the 200-yard butterfly where he was narrowly out-touched by .19 for the win, posting a season-best 1:47.00.
Sophomore Ralph Koo led the Mustangs in sprint freestyle events, finishing third in both the 50 (21.14) and 100 (46.13), while freshman Stephen Cheng was third in the 200-yard backstroke at 1:49.96.
SMU’s 400-yard freestyle relay team picked up its best group performance of the evening, finishing second as Matthew Nutter, Nick Badsky, Koo and Lucas Schenke covered the distance in 3:05.36.
In diving action, senior Bryce Klein was the runner-up on 3 meter with a score of 361.80.
The Mustangs are back in action Saturday, Feb. 3, for a pre-conference time trial event at the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium. Championship season kicks off Feb. 14-17 with the American Athletic Conference Championships at The Nat, and continues with NCAA Zone Diving (March 5-7) and the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships (March 21-24) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
