Walker, Koster Down Pool Records as Texas A&M Beats SEC Rival LSU

TEXAS A&M vs. LSU

  • Jan. 18, 2020
  • Hosted by LSU
  • Short Course Yards
  • Full Results

TEAM SCORES

WOMEN

  1. Texas A&M 182
  2. LSU 113

MEN

  1. Texas A&M 191.5
  2. LSU 105.5

Ben Walker and Adam Koster each set a Pool Record as Texas A&M topped SEC rival LSU on Saturday. Walker set his record in the 200 breast. He was dominant in the race, winning by 4 seconds in 1:56.72. Walker also won the 100 breast for an individual sweep, clocking a 54.32. He kept his winning streak going in the 400 IM to make it a triple, winning by 10 seconds in 3:51.25.

Individually, Koster won the 50 free in 20.02. He also placed 2nd in the 100 fly, touching in 48.66 as he was run down by LSU’s Lewis Clough (48.38). His Pool Record, however, came on the 400 free relay leadoff. Koster raced to a 43.56, taking down the day-old record formerly held by FSU’s Peter Varjasi.

On the women’s side, Raena Eldridge was one of the double event winners for A&M. Eldridge swept the sprints, first taking the 50 in 23.17. She returned for the 100 free, battling LSU’s Katarina Milutinovich. They were within a tenth of each other at the flip, but Eldridge split slightly faster on each 50 to win it 50.99 to 51.31.

PRESS RELEASE – TEXAS A&M WOMEN

BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 19 women’s swimming & diving team got back on track in a big way by defeating LSU on the road, 191.5 to 105.5 Saturday afternoon. The Aggies earned first in all but one race and secured multiple sweeps.

The Aggies started off the meet with a 1-2-3 finish in the 1000 Free with Joy Field earning first (10:06.89), Camryn Toney securing second (10:10.17) and Ashley Conrad not far behind in third (10:18.22). Katie Portz earned her first first-place finish of the meet in the 200 Free (1:49.12), followed by Karling Hemstreet in third (1:50.24).

The Maroon & White clinched a 1-2 finish in the 100 Back with Emma Carlton in front (54.49) and Sara Metzsch in second (55.09). The Aggies swept the 100 Breast, with Anna Belousova earning gold (1:01.99), Victoria Roubique taking second (1:03.33) and Caroline Theil securing third (1:03.57). Jing Wen Quah touched the wall first in the 100 Fly (1:57.60), with Taylor Pike earning second (1:59.88).

The 50 Free resulted in another 1-2 punch from the Aggies, with Raena Eldridge in first (23.17) and Golf Sapianchai in second (23.51). Eldridge and Quah added podium finishes in the 100 Free, with Eldridge in first (50.99) and Quah in second (51.49). Metzsch secured second in the 200 Back (2:00.14) and Kara Eisenmann took third (2:01.98). Belousova claimed her second first-place finish of the day in the 200 Breast (2:13.63) with Theil behind her in second (2:15.00).

It was more of the same for A&M in the 500 Free with Portz securing her second first-place finish of the day (4:55.51), followed by Field in second (4:56.70). Carlton touched the wall first again in the 100 Fly (54.55), with Pike not far behind in second (56.00). Theil recorded her third top-three finish of the meet, taking first in the 200 IM (2:00.46). The women closed out the meet the only way they knew how, as a team. Portz, Sapianchai, Carlton and Eldridge wrapped the competition with a first-place finish in the 400 Free Relay (3:23.64).

The diving squad had a successful meet on the boards with Charlye Campbell earning gold in the 3-Meter (319.73) and Alyssa Clairmont claiming third (298.43). The 1-Meter saw Campbell take second (276.30) and Clairmont take third (274.80).

The Aggies return to the Rec Center Natatorium for their final dual meet of the season on Saturday, January 25th to take on Arkansas for Senior Day. Events start at 11 a.m. Follow on Twitter for updates, @aggieswimdive.


Post Meet Quotes
Head Coach Steve Bultman
On looking towards the future…
“Good solid racing, stepping up and swimming fast right now, I’m very pleased. This is our second-to-last dual meet of the year. We are getting ready for one more meet next week and then have SEC’s shortly there after.”

Head Diving Coach Jay Lerew
On Charlye Campbell’s Performance…
“We struggled a little bit on 1-Meter, but 3-Meter we looked like we should. I thought it went really well. There’s a diver here who is nationally ranked and Charlye [Campbell] picked her off on 3-Meter, I was very happy for her.”

Senior Swimmer Anna Belousova
On coming back and winning after last meet…
“It was a pretty good meet for a lot of us. A lot of us had pretty good times and it was just nice to come back and win.”

PRESS RELEASE – TEXAS A&M MEN

BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 4 Texas A&M men’s swimming & diving team claimed victory in a dominant fashion, racking up 15 first-place finishes out 16 events on the day to earn a 182-113 win at the LSU Natatorium Saturday afternoon. Senior Benjamin Walker highlighted the team’s performance as he set a pool record in the 200 breast, finishing four seconds ahead of his closest competition, while classmate Adam Koster notched a pool record of his own as the leadoff in the 400 free relay.

The 200 medley relay team of sophomore Shaine Casas, Walker, Koster and senior Mike Thibert got things started for the Aggies, as it earned the top spot in the first event of the day. Sophomore Mark Schnippenkoetter and junior Felipe Rizzo continued the momentum with first- and third-place finishes, respectively, in the 1000 free.

Walker and freshman Andres Puente tacked on a 1-2 finish in the 100 breast as the Aggies locked up the top two spots for the first of three times against LSU.

It was a head-to-head battle for the Aggies in the 100 free, when junior Mark Theall was able to get his hand on the wall just two-tenths of a second before Thibert as the pair added another 1-2 finish for A&M.

Despite a four-second differential in finish times, the Aggies claimed first and second for the third time when Walker set an LSU Natatorium record with a 1:56.72 finish in the 200 breast and Puente was again just behind him. Walker earned his third victory of the day and wrapped up the individual events with an NCAA B-cut finish in the 400 IM.

The 400 free relay concluded the competition at LSU as Koster added a big finish, setting a pool record with a 43.46 leadoff split to position the Aggies for their final top finish of the day.

Junior Kurtis Mathews, the reigning SEC Male Diver of the Week, again claimed a pair of top finishes after taking first in the 3-meter (404.93) and 1-meter (373.05). Mathews has tallied five first-place finishes this season, recording a top-three score 11 times. After a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter, freshman Victor Povzner turned things around in the 1-meter, using score of 360.75 to finish just behind his teammate in second.

The Aggies will return to the pool on Friday, Jan. 31st as they host SMU for their final dual meet of the season. The Senior Day meet is set to begin at 6 p.m. at the Rec Center Natatorium. Check 12thMan.com and follow @AggieSwimDive on Twitter for updates and results.


Top Times on the Day
200 Medley Relay – Shaine CasasBenjamin WalkerAdam KosterMike Thibert – 1:27.97*
1000 Free – Mark Schnippenkoetter – 9:24.81*
1000 Free – Felipe Rizzo – 9:31.01
200 Free – Mark Theall – 1:36.15*
100 Back – Shaine Casas – 47.23*
100 Breast – Benjamin Walker – 54.32*
100 Breast – Andres Puente – 55.02
200 Fly – Alberto Gomez – 1:50.68*
200 Fly – Luke Stuart – 1:51.31
50 Free – Adam Koster – 20.02*
50 Free – Mike Thibert – 20.31
100 Free – Mark Theall – 44.11*
100 Free – Mike Thibert – 44.13*
200 Back – Shaine Casas – 1:44.21*
200 Breast – Benjamin Walker – 1:56.72*
200 Breast – Andres Puente – 2:00.74
500 Free – Felipe Rizzo – 4:33.77*
100 Fly – Adam Koster – 48.66
400 IM – Benjamin Walker – 3:51.25*
400 Free Relay – Adam KosterMike ThibertMark TheallShaine Casas – 2:55.84*


Post Meet Quotes
Head Coach Jay Holmes
On the team’s performance …
It was great to get back in the win column. There were a number of places that we were better this week than we were last week, which is, of course, how we want things to happen. An SEC win and a win against LSU are always great, just makes it a whole lot more fun.

On looking toward SEC Championships …
We are getting ready for that, this is obviously a team we are going to see there. There is not a bad team at SEC [Championships], they are all good. This is going to prepare us for it and we just have to keep doing our job, one event after the other. You swim four events a session, and at SEC’s you won’t swim that many, but this gives us an opportunity to begin preparing mentally. SEC’s is the longest conference meet in the country and we are doing our best to prepare for that.

Head Diving Coach Jay Lerew
On the divers’ performance …
Kurtis [Mathews] was solid again, at these kinds of meets you come and only get to practice each dive once before you go. Kurtis did a good job. Victor [Povzner] struggled a little bit, but then he got it together on the 1-meter, so it was nice to finish 1-2 in the 1-meter event.

Senior swimmer Benjamin Walker
On his pool record performance …
It was a good swim, I was really happy with the time. I felt really good in the water and I just wanted to push it as hard as I could, which is good moving forward because I think I have more in the tank in that race.

On looking forward to SEC Championships …
Today was exciting seeing so many guys swim well. I think we are going to have a really great meet at SEC’s. There were some really great races to watch, the 200 free was a really great time, and of course Adam [Koster] breaking a pool record. Overall our team is doing really well and we are definitely going to be good in a month, I’m excited about that.

PRESS RELEASE – LSU

Baton Rouge – The LSU Swimming and Diving team swam hard, but fell to the No. 4/19 Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday morning for Senior Day. The men fell by a final score of 182-113 and the women fell by a score of 191.5-105.5.

LSU will be back in action January 31 through February 1 as they will hit the road and head to Houston to face off against Houston and Rice.

IN THE POOL

For the men, Lewis Clough was the only Tiger to claim the gold in an event, as the senior did so in the 100-Yard Butterfly with a time of 48.38. Clough also finished in third place in the 200-Yard Free with a time of 1:37.31. Brooks Curry notched two second place finished as he swam a 20.24 in the 50-Yard Free and a 1:37.31 in the 200-Yard Free. Senior Keagan Finley claimed the silver in two events. He swam a 4:35.11 in the 500-Yard Free to finish second and a 9:29.77 in the 1000-Yard Free. Karl Lut, another senior for the Tigers, also finished second in two events. He touched the wall in 47.49 in the 100-Yard Back and 1:50.95 in the 200-Yard Back.

Also for the men, Luca Pfyffer notched two third place finishes as the junior swam a 56.08 in the 100-Yard Breast and a 2:02.59 in the 200-Yard Breast. Migeuel Velasquez also notched two third place finishes by swimming the 100-Yard Back in 50.28 and the 200-Yard Back in 1:51.91. Ben Hooper finished in second place in the 200-Yard Fly with a time of 1:50.79 and third place in the 100-Yard Fly with a time of 49.39. In the 400-Yard IM, Julian Norman and Isak Vikstrom finished in second and third place with times of 4:07.05 and 4:07.72. Vikstrom also finished in third place in the 500-Yard Free with a time of 4:38.25.

For the women, Cassie Kalisz won the 200-Yard Backstroke for the seventh time this season as she touched the wall in 1:58.96. In the 100-Yard Back, Kalisz finished in third place with a time of 55.63. Helen Grossman finished in second place in 100-Yard Fly with a time of 54.85. The senior also finished in third place in the 200-Yard Fly with a time of 2:01.23. Katarina Milutinovich notched two second place finishes as the freshman touched the wall in 51.31 in the 100-Yard Free and  1:49.22 in the 200-Yard Free.

Summer Stanfield and Niamh Robinson finished second and third in the 200-Yard IM with times of 2:03.00 and 2:06.33. Stanfield also finished in third place in the 500-Yard Free with a time of 4:57.07. Robinson would go on to finish in third place in the 200-Yard Breast with a time of 2:15.99. Olivia Taylor finished third in the 50-Yard Free with a time of 23.55.

“Looking at the team, we are tired,” said LSU head swim coach Dave Geyer. “However, I think that is alright. We did not hide anything about what this tough two week stretch would be like, especially Florida State last night and Texas A&M today. We knew it would be an emotional and physical toll. I just think we were emotionally tired from yesterday’s intense meet and it showed a little bit. At the same time, if you compare this dual meet against our dual meets from early in the season, the results are right in line. To still be able to compete at a high level and be close to season best times is a big positive.”

“As for the seniors, we still have a lot of racing to do and there are bigger goals out there for them,” continued Coach Geyer. “They still have goals they want to accomplish as far as the SEC  and NCAA Championships are concerned. Up to this point though, their contributions have been great. Just by looking at school records, top-times, NCAA qualifiers and so on, it has been a great class and what we expected from them when we recruited them. We’re happy for them but we still have some unfinished business.”

ON THE BOARDS

For the women, Aimee Wilson won the one-meter for the second day in a row. Today, she dove to a score of 300.08 to take the top spot. On one-meter, the sophomore dove to a score of 310.80 to finish in second place. Anne Tuxen dove to a score of 262.35 on one-meter to finish in fifth place and 275.93 to finish in fourth place on three-meter. Hayley Montague dove to a score of 251.03 on three-meter to finish in sixth place and 226.20 on one-meter to finish in seventh place.

On the men’s side, Manny Vazquez Bas dove to a score of 362.10 on three-meter to finish in second place. He dove to a score of 304.80 on one-meter to finish in fourth place. Dakota Hurbis dove to a score of 309.75 on one-meter to finish in third place and 335.18 on three-meter to finish in fourth place.

“I am proud of the accomplishments of the divers over the weekend,” said LSU head diving coach Doug Shaffer. “I expected today to be harder coming off of the Florida State meet last night. Although we were a bit inconsistent today, the challenge of going back-to-back days is important preparation looking ahead to our championship season. I also want to congratulate and thank the seniors who have represented our program well during their careers.”

MORE INFORMATION

For more information and updates on LSU Swimming and Diving please visit LSUsports.net, ‘like’ us on Facebook at LSU Swimming and Diving or follow us on Twitter and Instagram @LSUSwimDive.

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Go Vols
4 years ago

I herd they shaved for the meet.

Texas A&M Swim Fan
Reply to  Go Vols
4 years ago

Ummm….. Nope!!!

JCO
Reply to  Go Vols
4 years ago

While they likely didn’t shave for this meet, a lot of schools use a dual meet in mid-late January to determine conference roster spots for those who haven’t secured a spot. That’s why you’ll sometimes see some faster than normal dual meet times at this point in the season, but there doesn’t look to be any eye-popping swims from this meet

4Aggieswim&dive
Reply to  Go Vols
4 years ago

Do you mean “heard?” And no, they didn’t. Just an in-season dual meet.

About Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh is a former NCAA swimmer at the University of Arizona (2013-2015) and the University of Florida (2011-2013). While her college swimming career left a bit to be desired, her Snapchat chin selfies and hot takes on Twitter do not disappoint. She's also a high school graduate of The …

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