It was all in a days work for the SMU men's swimming team. After jumping into the polls at No. 20, the Stangs came out and defended their ranking against Texas A&M defeating them for the first time in six years. The Mustangs downed the Aggies, 124-81 for the first time since Lars Frolander was pacing the poneis. No diving was contested as the Aggies were without the services of sophomore All-American divers David Kalec (Montreal, Quebec) and Eric Sehn (Edmonton, Alberta) due to prior commitments to compete at the Canadian Winter Nationals this weekend.

The night began with a very close race in the 400 yard medley relay where the team of Ian Clark, Alex Hetland, Luka Vrtovec and JD White came in at 3:21.42 edging over the Aggies. In the 1000 yard freestyle, Michael Dmitriev took the competition swimming a time of 9:20.16. Chris Ginder came in third and set a new season and career high with a time of 9:39.50.

As the crowd grew louder in the 200 yard freestyle, Shane Milu accelerated at the end to shake past Aggies Scott Newmann who was swimming in the next lane. Milu put in a time of 1:41.65 while teammate Nathan Clark came in fourth setting a new season and career high with a time of 1:43.62.

“The only thing I’m disappointed in was not getting a win here,” A&M head coach Jay Holmes said. “We are getting better in things and it’s starting to show. Our effort and chemistry was there but credit SMU. They did a great job tonight.”

Senior All-American Andrew Sullivant (Houston) clocked his third-fastest 50-yard freestyle of the season to grab top honors in the event. Sullivant led a 1-2-4 A&M finish in the event in a time of 20.61. Junior Ozzie Gardner (Kearns, Utah) was second in 20.93 while Joe Watson (Houston) was fourth in 21.09.

Senior All-American Alex Dawson (Indianapolis, Ind.) was A&M’s other winner against the Mustangs, taking the top spot in the 200-yard breaststroke. Dawson, the second-fastest 200 breaststroker in A&M history, led a 1-3-4 Aggie finish in 2:04.79, his best of the season. Dawson also just missed a seasonal best in the 200-yard individual medley as well (1:53.22).

“That 200 breast was a good swim for Alex,” Holmes said. “He had been injured all summer and part of the fall and has really fought through it. We count on Alex in so many ways. He won that race in his third swim of day. He was behind at the 150-yard mark and just charged home to get the win. That was a gutsy effort.”

Sophomore Ryan Loney (Crosby, Texas) continued his solid season by taking second place in both the 500 and 1,000-yard freestyles in season best times. Loney clocked times of 4:35.01 and 9:35.08, respectively, in finishing second behind SMU freshman standout Michael Dimitriev in both races.

“Ryan works hard and is focused and does all the right things,” Holmes said. “He continues to get better and we’ll continue to rely on him more and more as the year goes on. He’s doing a good job.”

The Aggies dropped a tight race in the meet’s final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. The group of Scott Newmann (Duncanville, Texas), Ryan Kemp (Cedar Park, Texas), Sullivant, and Gardner were edged out at the wall, 3:01.47 to 3:01.70. Despite the loss, the time was the second best mark of the season for the Aggies.

“We take a lot of pride in our relays,” Holmes said. “SMU knows that and they did a heck of a job catching us there at the end.”

The schedule will get no easier for A&M as they welcome No. 5 Texas to town for the State Farm Lone Star Showdown on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. The match-up with the Longhorns will also be the final home meet for the Aggies’ eight seniors. The Longhorns and Mustangs will square off a day later.