The Kentucky men scored a 130-111 victory against TAMU for its first non-conference win on the year. The 13th-ranked A&M women evened the score with a 134-107 win Saturday afternoon at the Student Rec Center Natatorium.

The Cats were led by freshman James Batley, senior Daniel Farnham and sophomore Grant Nelson, who each won two events. Batley captured both the 200 and 500 freestyle events, marking the first collegiate victories of his career. Returning All-America Farnham scored victories in the 50 and 100 freestyle. Nelson capped off the men’s successful day by winning the 1000 freestyle and the 200 butterfly. Sophomore Kristian Outinen also posted his second win in as many tournaments in the 200 breaststroke event. Fittingly, A&M’s win over the Wildcats on Alumni Weekend, despite the year being only 2005, makes this the winningest decade in Texas A&M women’s swimming & diving history. Since Steve Bultman’s arrival as head coach in the fall of 1999, the women’s program has posted a 55-17 record, surpassing the mark of 54-40-1 set during the 1990’s by Mel Nash and Don Wagner.

The A&M women won the first four events against Kentucky and eight of the first 10 before cruising in for their fourth dual meet win in the past month.

Freshman Codie Hansen (Arlington, Texas) won a pair of events for A&M against the Wildcats. Hansen, who seemingly gets faster and faster each time she races, clocked the 10th-fastest time in the nation in earning a win in the 100-yard freestyle. Hansen exploded over the final 25 yards to outdistance a talented field in a time of 50.57. Hansen did so after having won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:04.71 just six events prior. She now ranks No. 9 and No. 10 in A&M history in the 1,000 free and 100 free, respectively, just five meets into her collegiate career.

Freshman Triin Aljand (Tallinn, Estonia) proved that her eye-opening 50 free time against Houston the night before was no fluke by replicating her performance against Kentucky. Aljand clocked the exact same time as the day before, 23.08, keeping herself in the No. 2 spot nationally behind Brooke Bishop of Stanford (23.04). Aljand also anchored A&M’s winning 400-yard medley relay to open the meet. She teamed with Kristen Heiss (Casper, Wyo.), Erin Briskie (Dallas), and Christine Marshall (Newport News, Va.) to turn in an effort of 3:49.49.

Heiss and Marshall, both freshmen, captured individual event wins as well. Heiss led a 1-2-3 A&M finish in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:02.83 while Marshall just missed a lifetime-best in the 200 freestyle, clocking a time of 1:51.52.

Sophomore Jenni Stratton (Portland, Ore.) grabbed a win in the 500-yard freestyle, clipping more than six seconds off her seasonal best. Stratton turned in a time of 5:01.70. The Aggies (1-3) managed to win a pair of tight relay races, posting some of the top times in the nation, but were outmanned in the individual events. The Wildcats (1-1) grabbed wins in eight of the nine races to grab their first dual meet win of the season.

The Aggies shot out to the lead by taking first place honors in the 400-yard medley relay. The foursome of Matt Neal (Plano, Texas), Alejandro Jacobo (Leon, Gto., Mexico), Blaine Kisler (Corvallis, Ore.), and Andrew Sullivant (Houston) won the 400 medley relay in a time of 3:23.20, the ninth-fastest time in the nation this season.

A&M was also stellar in the 400-yard freestyle relay, winning by nearly a full second in 3:01.56. The group of Scott Newmann (Duncanville, Texas), Sullivant, Ozzie Gardner (Kearns, Utah), and Ryan Kemp (Cedar Park, Texas) turned in the Ags’ best time of the season as well the sixth-fastest nationally.

“We aren’t happy with the outcome but we did get some positives out of the meet,” A&M head coach Jay Holmes. “We did put a lot of emphasis on the relays today. Kentucky is a great relay team and we were able to finish ahead of them in both events. We sure would have liked to have beaten them in a lot more individual events however. That was the difference between winning and losing the meet. Our divers did a heck of a job again for us. We did have some good individual swims but they were just plain better today.”