TEXAS A&M VS. LSU
- Results
- Hosted by Texas A&M
- Saturday, January 21st
- 25 yards
- Dual meet format
FINAL TEAM SCORES:
- WOMEN- Texas A&M 193, LSU 103
- MEN- Texas A&M 173, LSU 127
The Texas A&M men and women recorded a victory over LSU on their senior day, with the Aggie women sweeping all 14 events. Seniors Sycerika McMahon and Sarah Gibson contributed wins individually to close out their NCAA dual meet careers. McMahon won the 500 free, posting a dominant 4:50.77 to win by 12 seconds.
Gibson, on the other hand, swept the butterfly races. In the 200 fly, she posted a 1:58.37 victory to outpace LSU’s Kara Kopcso (1:59.58). The 2 swimmers battled again in the 100 fly, finishing within a few tenths of each other. Gibson took a slight edge through the first 50 and held on to win in 54.15, while Kopcso touched narrowly behind in 54.50.
On the men’s side, senior Cory Bolleter shined in the Aggies’ victory. Individually, he powered to a 19.88 to win the 50 free for the Aggies. He then clocked a 44.91 in the 100 free to take a close 2nd to LSU’s Karl Luht (44.63). His relay swims were arguably even more impressive. Bolleter swam to a 19.08 free split as the 200 medley relay anchor at the beginning of the meet. He got faster as the meet went on, rolling to an 18.94 anchor split on the 200 free relay at the end of the session.
PRESS RELEASE – TEXAS A&M MEN
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving team downed longtime rival LSU, 173-127, on Senior Day on Saturday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.
The Aggies won 10 of 16 events against the Tigers as they improved their season dual meet record to 4-1. It was Texas A&M’s third straight win in the long series between the schools and the Aggies improved their record against the Tigers under head coach Jay Holmes to 10-3. Texas A&M will close out its regular season with a dual meet against SMU next Friday in Mansfield, Texas.
“Obviously we have a history with LSU – we’ve been swimming these guys for decades,” Holmes said. “LSU always brings out the best in us and we probably bring out the best in LSU, so this is always a meet that we look forward to.”
With the meet still in the balance, the most senior of the Texas A&M senior class stood tall for the Aggies on Senior Day. After a 1-2 finish by LSU in the 200-yard butterfly had given the Tigers a 57-55 lead after six events, fifth-year senior Cory Bolleter and the Texas A&M sprint freestylers gave the Aggies a lead they would not relinquish.
Bolleter scorched the pool in the 50 free with a time of 19.88 and led a 1-2-3-4 Aggie parade in the race as Texas A&M regained the lead, 71-60, and never trailed the rest of the meet. Finishing behind the Aggies’ only fifth-year senior were freshman Adam Koster (20.26), freshman Raiz Tjon-A-Joe (20.29) and senior Jacob Gonzales (20.41).
“Anytime you do a 1-2-3-4 like that, it’s a big momentum swing,” Holmes said. “Even if you know it’s coming, it’s still a big momentum swing. We knew it was something that we were capable of but it was still fun to get it done and there’s no question that it was a big turning point in the meet.”
The Aggies opened and closed the meet with relay victories. The foursome of junior Brock Bonetti, junior Mauro Castillo, senior Turker Ayar and Bolleter surged to victory in the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 1:27.27 in the first race of the day, and the quartet of Koster, Gonzales, Tjon-A-Joe and Bolleter touched first in 1:19.22 to end the day.
Bolleter was dominant on the end of both relays, turning in a 19.08 anchor in the medley relay and a breath-taking 18.94 anchor in the free relay. Bolleter’s 18.94 split was a lifetime best and ranks as the third-fastest 50 free split in school history.
Castillo led the way with three individual victories with wins in the 100 breaststroke (54.20), 200 breaststroke (1:59.27) and 200 IM (1:50.09). Also grabbing multiple individual wins were Bonetti in the 100 back (47.81) and 200 back (1:45.94) and sophomore Sam Thornton in the one-meter dive (402.90) and the three-meter dive (372.98).
PRESS RELEASE – LSU
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The LSU swimming and diving team wrapped up the final dual meet of the season with a solid performance against SEC opponent Texas A&M on Saturday at the Rec Center Natatorium. Overall, the No. 25 ranked women (4-2) fell to the No. 7 Aggies by a score of 193-103, and the No. 24 ranked men (1-3) were defeated by a tally of 173-127.
The women will return to action next weekend for the final set of home meets at the LSU Natatorium against Tulane, Rice and Houston. The men will return to the pool for the SEC Championships in February.
“It was a tough meet. We knew their women were really talented and deep, and it showed,” said head swimming coach Dave Geyer. “Performance wise, I thought we were right where we need to be at this point, but we certainly could have been more into the meet mentally.”
The women’s 200 medley relay team of Kate Zimmer, Colleen O’Neil, Kara Kopcso and Leah Troskot opened up the meet taking second place at 1:41.06.
In the individual events, O’Neil compiled a trio of second place finishes in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and the 200 IM, posting finishes of 1:01.40, 2:15.91 and 2:02.72 in the respective events.
Kopcso took second overall in two events, touching the wall at 1:59.58 in the 200 fly and 54.50 in the 100 fly. Kopcso also took third in the 200 IM at 2:04.09.
In the 50 free, Haylee Knight grabbed second place, coming in at 23.08. Leah Troskot and Knight finished 2-3 in the 100 free, as Troskot clocked at 50.51 and Knight followed on her heels at 50.80.
Megan Loop also took another second place finish for the Lady Tigers in the 500 free at 5:02.27.
For the men’s squad, Sven Saemundsson led the way for the men after picking up a pair of individual wins in the distance freestyle events, securing first place in the 1000 and 500 free with a times of 9:21.19 and 4:31.45 respectively.
Three other swimmers collected a win at the meet. Logan Rysemus took first in the 100 fly at 48.21, and Karl Luht added another victory for the men in the 100 free at 44.63.
Alarii Levreualt-Lopez edged out teammate Brandon Goldman for first overall in the 200 fly with a time of 1:48.25. Goldman earned second place for his performance, touching the wall at 1:48.55.
In the 200 free, Lewis Clough, Jake Markham, and Damen Pheiffer finished 1-2-3 with times of 1:38.92, 1:38.95 and 1:39.94. Rysemus and Luht also tallied second and third place finishes in the 100 back, timing at 48.00 and 48.99.
Silas Dejean logged two more second place finishes in the 100 and 200 breast, posting times of 54.46 and 2:00.32 respectfully. The men wrapped up the meet at second overall in the 200 free relay, as the team of Luht, Joao Mescolote, Markham and Rysemus touched the wall at 1:21.62.
“The men were obviously a little excited to start off the relays,” said Geyer. “I liked our response shortly after with the 1000 and 200 (free) though to put us back into the meet. From there, we just couldn’t sustain momentum and (A&M’s) depth took points away from us.”
For the diving squad, Lizzie Cui took first overall on three-meter, diving to a personal best of 367.65 to retain her spot at third on LSU’s all-time list. Makayla Robillard posted a score of 272.10 on one-meter to grab second, and Rileigh Knox followed in third with a score of 266.40.
On the men’s side, Matt McClellan dove to a career-high on three meter with a score of 370.05 for second overall, squeaking past Andrew Suchla, who tallied a score at 369.38 for third in a tightly-contested event. Matt Phillip also dove to a score of 325.96 to place fourth on three-meter, and Suchla tacked on another third place finish on one-meter with a score of 353.05.
“We competed well and had two personal best performances on three-meter in Lizzie and Matt McClellan,” said head diving coach Doug Shaffer. The men’s three-meter event was really exciting and came down to the last dive. It could have gone any way between the top-three finishers.
“I like where we are as a team right now. We have one more competition and we’re in the championship season.”
