Ryan Harty: “There’s Nothing Worse Than Sitting on the Sidelines”

^{Reported by Lauren Neidigh.}

TEXAS VS. TEXAS A&M

• Results
• Hosted by Texas A&M
• Friday, November 3rd
• 25 Yards
• Dual Meet Format

Texas A&M’s Mauro Castillo Luna put together a winning triple to help the men achieve their first victory over Texas since 1962. Luna, the top returner from the 200 breast at last season’s NCAAs, swept the breaststroke events. He was dominant in both, swimming to a 53.70 in the 100 breast and a 1:55.93 in the 200 breast to lead a 1-2 finish with teammate Tanner Olson (54.98/2:00.52) both times.

Castillo Luna finished off the triple in the 200 IM against Texas All-American Jonathan Roberts. They traded blows through the first 3 legs, with Castillo Luna leading after fly but Roberts taking over on the back leg. He once again took over the lead by outsplitting Roberts 29.93 to 32.32 on the breast leg, never looking back as Roberts chased him with a 24.97 free split. At the finish, Castillo Luna held on to his advantage, winning in 1:47.54 to Roberts’ 1:47.74.

Teammate Brock Bonetti also had a close race with Roberts as a part of his backstroke sweep. In the 200 back, he built a 1.5-second lead through the 150, holding off Roberts’ 25.29 closing surge to win in 1:43.02 ahead of Roberts’ 1:43.37. Bonetti had won the 100 back earlier in the session, putting up a 47.15 ahead of Texas backstroke star John Shebat (48.11).

Bonetti and Shebat battled again in the 100 fly. Shebat took off with a 22.45 on the front half and this time got his hands to the wall first, narrowly holding off Bonetti to win it 48.29 to 48.31. Notably absent from today’s meet was Texas’ top butterflier Joseph Schooling, who swam the first day of the Longhorns’ 2-day meet against Florida and Indiana 2 weeks ago but hasn’t made an appearance since.

The Longhorns got a pair of wins each from NCAA champion Townley Haas and sprint standout Brett Ringgold. In his signature 200 free, Haas led from start to finish, touching in 1:38.35 ahead of teammate Jeff Newkirk (1:38.96). He returned to win the 500 free in 4:27.38. Ringgold, on the other hand, took control of the shorter freestyles. In the 50 free, he out-touched Texas A&M’s Adam Koster 19.92 to 19.94. They went 1-2 again in the 100 free, with Ringgold winning in 43.85, followed by Koster (44.33).