For the second time in the last two years, a swimmer has gone from Texas to Texas A&M, as Melanie McClure has confirmed that she will become an Aggie next year.
McClure will join Caroline McElhaney as former Longhorns now residing in College Station; though this one won’t be as splashy as the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry will likely dim in the next few seasons with A&M moving to the SEC.
McClure will be a junior in the fall, and comes to Aggieland with strong backstrokes, and a very good 200 freestyle as well.
Her career bests, both from last year’s Big 12 Championships, are 55.29 and 1:56.97 in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, respectively. In an SEC that is relatively weak in the backstrokes, those times would have given her B-Final finishes at last year’s SEC Championships and scored valuable points.
Her 200 free might be just as important to A&M next year, however. She’s got a best of 1:49.68 in that race. Texas A&M struggled in the 800 free relay last year – they scratched the race altogether at NCAA’s. When they get Sarah Henry and Lili Ibanez back next season, they’ll get much better, but having more depth in the freestyles will give them more options, as they’re limited across the freestyle races.
She already has strong family ties at A&M. Melanie, originally from the Dallas area (about equidistant from the two campuses), has an older brother John who will be a senior on the A&M men’s team next season. John is a middle-distance freestyler.
