The Texas A&M men’s swimming team competed against local teams in the American Short Course Championships meet from March 2-4 at the Jamail Texas Swim Center in Austin. The team is fresh off a fourth-place finish from SEC Championships that took place from Feb. 14-18.
The maroon and white kicked off the meet by grabbing three of the top-five places in the 500-yard freestyle. Sophomore Trey Dickey notched first with a time of 4:22.22. Freshman Batuhan Filiz and senior William Coakley rounded up third and fifth-place with times of 4:24.89 and 4:25.64, respectively.
The Aggies continued day one with third and fifth-place finishes in the 200-yard individual medley. Freshman Maximiliano Vega grabbed third with 1:46.83 and junior Max Hardt rounded up fifth with 1:48.82.
The 50-yard freestyle had two Aggies in the top-four. Junior Carter Nelson finished as the runner-up with 19.79 and junior Collin Fuchs finished fourth with 19.97.
The second day began with a runner-up finish in the 400-yard individual medley by Vega. A&M saw its first victor in the meet with freshman Connor Foote winning the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 45.48. Fuchs scored points for the Aggies with a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:35.44.
The 100-yard backstroke belonged to the maroon and white. Freshman Baylor Nelson won the event with 46.22 and sophomore Tyler Hulet finished right behind him with 46.89.
The final day began with Aggie swimmers grabbing third and fourth-place spots in the 200-yard backstroke. Hulet notched third with 1:41.84 and freshman Kaloyan Levterov finished fourth with 1:43.01.
The Aggies continued their strong showing with more top-five finishes. Fuchs touched the wall second in the 100-yard freestyle with 43.28 and Carter finished fifth with 43.77.
The maroon and white were able to grab the top-two spots in the 200-yard breaststroke. Junior Vincent Ribeiro out-touched Baylor to win the event with times of 1:53.86 and 1:53.97, respectively.
Senior Anze Fers Erzen contributed points for A&M with a second-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, going for 1:43.61.
Next, the team will finish off its season with NCAA Championships from March 22-25 at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.