The Texas A&M men’s and women’s swim teams opened their seasons at the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Collegiate National Open Water Championship at Lone Star Lake in Lawrence, Kansas.
The men earned 5th place while the women placed 8th in the meet, which was hosted by the University of Kansas.
“We’re excited to start our season,” men’s head coach Jay Holmes said to 12thman.com. “This 5k open water swim helps get our distance swimmers in the right mindset of training. It’s a great venue and the weather was great. It’s completely different than pool swimming, but it was a great way to get our season started and there are still a lot of ways we can get a whole lot better.”
Sophomore Felipe Rizzo finished in 10th place to lead the Aggie men, completing the 5000-meter race in 59:56.04. Taylor Pike led the Texas A&M women in 22nd place with a time of 1:05:28.99.
“Felipe was in the lead pack the whole way, was in a fight with all those other guys for the lead,” Holmes said to 12thman.com. “Our other four guys were in the second pack. With open water, there’s a lot of splashing and they’re in there so tight, sometimes you can’t see too much, so it was a good, tough swim. We’re looking forward to our next couple of meets.”
Joy Field finished in 26th place a minute behind Pike.
Rounding out the men’s team was freshman Lucas Stuart in 20th place (1:03:04.59), Sophomore Gus Karau in 25th place (1:03:13.63), freshman Mark Schnipenkoetter in 29th place (1:03:16.83), and junior Jake Gibbons in 32nd place (1:03:23.68).
Freshman Gabby Kopenski and junior Karling Hemstreet placed 43rd and 50th for the women, with times of 1:07:50.28 and 1:10:01.80 respectively.
Both teams will return to the pool on Oct. 12-13 when they take on Ohio State and Louisville at the Mccorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio.