The No. 12 Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving teams were able to build on their hot starts to the season, winning over South Carolina and Virginia Tech on Saturday, Oct. 7 at the Carolina Natatorium. A&M earned a 193-102 win over the Gamecocks, and held off the Hokies 157.5-139.5.
The Aggies started off Saturday morning with a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley. Seniors Thomas Shomper and Carter Nelson, sophomore Connor Foote and freshman Logan Brown were able to finish with a time of one minute and 28.14 seconds.
Sophomore Baylor Nelson led the charge for the Aggies with three individual wins in the 200 freestyle relay, the 200 backstroke relay and the 200 individual medley. His times were 1:35.88, 1:45.06 and 1:45.5, respectively.
Junior Trey Dickey and sophomore Batuhan Filiz took home 1-2 finishes in the 1,000 and 500 freestyle relays. Dickey finished in 9:12.99 in the 1,000 and 4:27.79 in the 500. Filiz finished the 1,000 in 9:15.17 and the 500 in 4:27.87.
Junior Allen Bottego kept his early season success rolling as he swept the diving events. He won the 1-meter with a score of 355.58, while senior Victor Povzner took second with a score of 322.73. Bottego also claimed victory in the 3-meter, with a score of 368.10. Senior Takuto Endo finished third with a score of 355.43 and junior Rhett Hensley followed him behind in fourth with a score of 347.70. Povzner took fifth with a score of 316.28.
Head coach Jay Holmes said he was proud of the leadership that he was starting to see on his team.
“We were able to get a lot out of that meet,” Holmes told 12thMan.com after the meet. “We had several guys stepping up in key places that we needed to see, like Thomas Shomper and Carter Nelson having the start of a season that you hope to see out of your seniors. [It took a] team effort to go to South Carolina and win like we did.”
The Aggies will look to stay undefeated on the season as they take on the Tennessee Volunteers on Friday, Oct. 27, at the Rec Center Natatorium.
For more information, visit 12thMan.com and follow the team @AggieSwimDive on Instagram and X.
Aaron Raley is a university studies junior and contributed this piece from the course JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.