Senior Aggie swimmers Cammile Adams and Breeja Larson packed their bags to travel overseas this week as they compete in the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain.
Adams will have the chance Thursday to make A&M swimming history. On Wednesday she qualified second in the women’s 200-meter butterfly semifinals.
With a strong showing in the final she could become the first Aggie medalist at the World Championships. Winning would mean adding to an already accomplished season after titles in the 200 fly at the Southeastern Conference Championships, the NCAA Championships and U.S. National Championships.
The 200 fly is arguably Adams’ best event, as she placed fifth at the London Olympic Games a year ago. It was the highest ever finish by an Aggie swimmer at the Olympics.
Larson competed Tuesday in the 100-meter breaststroke placing fifth. Joining the two women’s swimmers in Spain was former A&M All-American diver Grant Nel who finished 11th Friday in the three-meter springboard diving final.
While the competition will be over for Nel, Larson will compete in the women’s 50m and 200m breaststroke. Adams will compete in three more events – the 100m butterfly as well as the 200m and 400m individual medley.
Also in world competition, Texas A&M javelin thrower Sam Humphreys was forced to withdraw from the IAAF World Championships after being injured in competition.
Humphreys suffered a broken rib and torn abdominal muscles on one of his throws at a meet in Finland. He will now miss the trip to Moscow, Russia where the Championships will be held.
“It’s a tough, tough break for Sam,” Aggie head track and field coach Pat Henry said in a press release from the A&M athletic department. “He will bounce back from this injury, but it won’t be in time for the World Championships. It just proves that the javelin is the toughest event in track
and field.”
The setback is a familiar tale for Humphreys, who won the Olympic Trials a year ago but missed the standard to make it to the Olympics with a throw that came up just five inches short.
Humphreys broke his own school record to qualify for the World Championships after becoming an NCAA Champion in the javelin in June when Henry and the Aggie men won their fourth team championship in
five years.