Senior day means theclosing of one door and the opening of another as Texas A&M will host LSU at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Student Recreation Center Natatorium.
“Last weekend was a club meet, [and] it was long course which is not what we normally swim,” said Steve Bultman, head coach of women’s swimming and diving. “We’ve got people trying to qualify for their country’s national team and that’s the kind of pool they swim, so we [went] over there to race to try and get them ready.”
The No. 4 Texas A&M (8-0, 3-0 SEC) women’s swimming and diving team doled out a strong performance in the Arena Pro Swim Series at Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, led by a foursome of junior Claire Brandt, freshman Beryl Gastaldello and sophomores Franko Jonker and Sarah Gibson. The quartet took top honors in the final race with a time of 4:09.13.
No. 20 LSU (4-3, 1-3 SEC) is coming off a tough home loss to Tennessee two weeks ago. Kara Kopsco is making waves after she led the Tigers with three wins in their last competition.
Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving (5-3, 0-2 SEC) also plays host to LSU (2-4, 0-4 SEC). This developing rivalry will be an exciting competition with both crews hunting their first conference win.
Freshman Brock Bonetti was named the SEC Freshman of the Week on Tuesday. Bonetti led the Aggies to a 132-104 victory over rival SMU with his backstroke and relay first-place finishes.
His 200-yard backstroke led a Texas A&M sweep of the top three places with a time of 1:45.21. His backstroke split started the Aggies off to a solid start which ultimately led to a season-best time of 3:13.3. Bonetti also secured third place in the 200 IM, posting a time of 1:51.84.
Senior night brings bittersweet feelings to the players as well as the coaches.
“It means time flew,” Bultman said. “That’s all they talk about and I feel the same way. Just a year or two ago I was recruiting them and now they’re finishing up their eligibility. It’s a happy thing but it’s a sad thing at the same time.”
The swimmers and coaches both know how it helps to have a solid base to honor the seniors.
“We usually get pretty good crowds,” Bultman said. “Our meets two weeks ago were earlier in the day and they were on a week day. So that’s kind of tough to get people out. This is a weekend, a Saturday meet at 11, and hopefully we can get a good crowd.”