Texas A&M Press Release
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 7-ranked Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team will head into the 2017 Southeastern Conference Championships with a 7-1 record in dual meet action and undefeated in SEC competition after defeating LSU, 193-103, on Senior Day Saturday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.
Prior to the dual meet, Texas A&M's eight seniors were honored – Zoe Alaniz (Corpus Christi, Texas), Julia Cook (Boerne, Texas), Sarah Gibson (San Antonio, Texas), Courtney Hattie (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada), Madison Hudkins (Murrieta, Calif.), Frankie Jonker (Pretoria, South Africa), Ashley McGregor (Pointe-Claire, Québec, Canada) and Sycerika McMahon (Belfast, Northern Ireland).
“We saw some good racing, especially after coming back from yesterday. A number of the swims were better than yesterday, so that was good. There were good, solid races,” head coach Steve Bultman said following the meet. “It goes by so quick and it doesn’t seem like they are seniors. It seems like just yesterday that we were recruiting them. They have definitely contributed to our success.”
The Aggies swept all 14 races in the pool, while claiming at least the top two spots in seven and posting 13 NCAA “B” qualifying times.
Among the seniors taking swimming victories on Senior Day were Gibson with two individual wins in the 200-yard butterfly (1:58.37) and 100 fly (54.15) and McMahon in the 500 free (4:50.77). In the diving well, Hudkins topped the leaderboard in the one-meter dive (303.98) and placed second in the three-meter (317.33).
Texas A&M opened the meet with a 200 medley relay victory from the foursome of Gibson and juniors Béryl Gastaldello, Jorie Caneta and Kristin Malone with a time of 1:39.82 to give the Aggies a strong start.
Also contributing multiple individual victories for the Aggies were junior Lisa Bratton in the 100 back (54.40) and 200 back (1:56.61), Gastaldello in the 50 free (22.44) and 100 free (49.31), and sophomore Sydney Pickrem in the 200 breast (2:11.21) and 200 IM (1:58.82).
Earning single wins for the Aggies were sophomore Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo in the 1,000 free (10:01.87), sophomore Claire Rasmus in the 200 free (1:48.47), and Caneta in the 100 breast (1:00.43).
Texas A&M closed out their final home meet with a victory in the 200 free relay with the group of redshirt freshman Raena Eldridge, freshman Sara Metzsch, junior Laura Norman and Gastaldello touching in 1:32.45.
Texas A&M will return to action in four weeks as they travel to the SEC Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., at the Jones Aquatic Center on the University of Tennessee campus.
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 season-best 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).
LSU Press Release
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.
