Courtesy: Texas A&M Athletics
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M men’s swimming team hosts SMU for the team’s Senior Night in the Rec Center Natatorium on Friday, January 31 at 6 p.m.
“Senior night is always a great thing for the families,” said head coach Jay Holmes. “They get a chance to come in and relish that this is indeed their last home meet. I know our seniors look forward to it, although some of them feel like they just got here and now it’s over. That’s why it’s important for us all to relish, seas and enjoy those moments, because they don’t come around that often.”
The Seniors
Jake Gibbons – Back/Free – Jacksonville, Fla.
Adam Koster – Free – Trophy Club, Texas
Mike Thibert – Free – Mansfield, Texas
Benjamin Walker – IM/Breast – The Woodlands, Texas
Scouting SMU
SMU owns a 1-3 dual-meet record with its loan win coming over TCU and losses to LSU, West Virginia and Incarnate Word. Mustang standout, Caleb Rhodenbaugh was clocked at 1:55.60 in the 200 breasts, which ranks as the 22-fastest time in the country.
“This is one of our more traditional rivalries,” Holmes explained. “We’ve been swimming against SMU for the last meet or the second-to-last meet for decades. I’m just looking forward to the chance for us to get up and race, because we’ve worked out so much. It’s a chance for us to come in here and compete. This is your heat, your lane; go earn it.”
The Season Recap
Texas A&M approaches its final dual meet of the season with a 6-3 dual meet record. The Maroon & White return to action after collecting two LSU Natatorium records, courtesy of Benjamin Walker (1:56.72, 200 breast) and Adam Koster (43.56, 100 free R), in its dominating victory over LSU. The Aggies also compiled wins against No. 5 Ohio State, Boston University, Harvard, Incarnate Word and Trinity, with their losses handed by No. 2 Texas, No. 11 Georgia and Duke. The bulk of the Maroon & White’s standout times came from the Art Adamson Invite, where it managed to set eight new school records and won by a margin of 647 points over second-place USC. Eight different Aggies own times ranked among the top-30 times in the nation, in addition to Texas A&M notching a top-five time in all five relay events. As a result, Texas A&M boasts its ranking at the No. 5 spot by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America, its highest ranking since 2001.
Aggies in the Top 30
Athlete Event Time Rank
Kaloyan Bratanov 200 IM 1:45.19 24th
Shaine Casas 100 Back :44.48 1st
Shaine Casas 200 IM 1:40.16 1st
Shaine Casas 200 Back 1:37.35 2nd
Shaine Casas 100 Fly :45.26 3rd
Shaine Casas 50 Back (Relay Leadoff) :21.07 7th
Shaine Casas 200 Free (Relay Leadoff) 1:33.67 9th
Shaine Casas 50 Free (Relay Leadoff) :19.54 20th
Shaine Casas 100 Free (Relay Leadoff) :42.94 25th
Adam Koster 100 Free :42.26 5th
Adam Koster 50 Free :19.49 16th
Tanner Olson 100 Breast :52.68 15th
Andres Puente 200 Breast 1:52.48 6th
Andres Puente 100 Breast :52.49 12th
Andres Puente 400 IM 3:46.75 21st
Luke Stuart 1650 Free 15:06.58 28th
Mark Theall 500 Free 4:12.19 3rd
Mark Theall 200 Free 1:32.96 5th
Mark Theall 1650 Free 15:08.54 30th
Benjamin Walker 200 Breast 1:53.33 10th
Follow the Action
Check 12thman.com and follow @AggieSwimDive on Twitter for results.
Where are the commenters that trashed on another team recently about a team competing against a lower team for their senior night???? Odd to me that I don’t see those comments here 🤔
While I get the point that you’re trying to make about criticisms lobbed against your Pitt Panthers, SMU won this meet as recently as 2012. While the A&M men are definitely on an upcycle and SMU is down (though their recruiting indicates that they’ll be back sooner rather than later under Greg Rhodenbaugh), this series has traditionally been competitive. SMU was a top-25 team for most of the 2000s. There was a long period of time where Texas was so much better than A&M and SMU became a rivalry battle over who was the 2nd-best team in the state. A certain generation of A&M male swimmers would probably identify SMU as the team’s primary rival.
The teams have also been… Read more »
Sped
@Swimmy Swim
Must have gotten my “down vote” concerning my post from you Swimmy Swim. As Braden says, we have a “long history” swimming against SMU so who’s “up” or who’s “down” at any point in time during this rivalry doesn’t matter! Sorry Pitt got “dissed” but I wasn’t one of those who was doing the “dissing”. You swim against who’s on your schedule & that’s all you can do! I don’t think it can quite be compared to D1 football programs scheduling D2 football programs where that D1 program is hoping for an “easy” win (& every once in a while that D1 program wishes it hadn’t scheduled that D2 program). It’ll be a good meet for all tomorrow night!! Still… Read more »
🙏🏼
Great group of seniors on a great team!!! Go have some fun Friday evening. Let’s continue to “gig em forever”👍👍👍!!
Rumors about a guest appearance from Nathaniel H. Very excited!