The No. 14-ranked Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving team won its first meet of the season, beating the Kentucky Wildcats at home by a score of 177-111.
The maroon and white opened up the meet with a 1-2-3 finish in the 200-yard medley relay, with freshman Connor Foote and seniors Ethan Gogulski, Jace Brown and Andres Puente going for a time of 1:28.37.
Freshman Baylor Nelson continues his impressive freshman year, winning the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:37.83. Senior Kaloyan Bratanov was also able to place third in the event, finishing with a time of 1:38.76. Nelson was also able to win the 400-yard individual medley, with a time of 3:51.13.
The Aggies also saw a 1-2-3 finish in the 100-yard backstroke. Gogulski won the event with a time of 48.39, sophomore Tyler Hulet was right behind him with a time of 49.28 and junior Thomas Shomper with a third-place finish with a time of 49.59. The same three swimmers were also able to replicate a 1-2-3 finish in the 200-yard backstroke, with Gogulski winning with a time of 1:47.14 and Hulet following up with 1:47.21 and Shomper securing third with 1:47.37.
Puente continues a great season, sweeping the breaststroke events with first place finishes in the the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 54.85 and in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:58.33. Junior Vincent Ribeiro followed up in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.97. Senior Anze Pers Erzen also closed out the 200-yard butterfly event, winning first with a time of 1:46.42.
The maroon and white saw two swimmers finish in the top three in the 50-yard freestyle, with Foote winning the event with 20.74 and junior Kraig Bray finishing third with 20.90. Foote also finished first in the 100-yard butterfly, with 48.30. The Aggies were able to close out the meet with a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay, led by Bratanov, Foote, Gogulski and Nelson, with a combined time of 1:21.04.
The Aggies will look to build on this win as they host the TCU Horned Frogs on Friday, Nov. 4. The meet will be streamed on SEC Network+ at 3 p.m.
For more information and updates, visit 12thMan.com and follow the team @AggieSwimDive on Twitter and Instagram.
Justin Chen is a general studies junior and contributed this piece from the course JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.