On Saturday, Oct. 15, the Texas A&M Club Swim team toppled seven competing college club teams at the home invitational, taking 1,781 points and winning first place in both the men’s and women’s brackets to open the season.
The Oct. 15 invitational at the A&M Recreation Center set the precedent for new coaches Jarad Yost and Jill Gellatly who joined the club in 2022. The men’s team took first, beating University of Texas Austin and Texas Tech, who placed second and third respectively. In the women’s competition, A&M took first with UT Dallas and UT Austin taking second and third. The club was founded in 2017 and was the first university in the state of Texas to join U.S. Masters College Club Swimming, according to the team’s website.
The day started off with the women’s 200-yard medley relay, where three of the four top teams were all Aggies, taking first, second and fourth with times of 1:59.95, 2:00.99 and 2:11.25, respectively.
The Aggies continued to top charts, hitting their stride in the men’s 50-yard butterfly where all but two of the top 10 spots were taken by A&M swimmers, including a first place finish by Scott Innis at 24.72, second place finish by Gerardo Gonzalez with 24.95 and third place finish by Sam Mohseni who had a time of 25.28.
In the women’s 50-yard breaststroke, there was an Aggie tie for first with Morgan Hanson and Madison Thorp both clocking in at 33.20.
Junior Sarah Anderson took first in the women’s 200-yard freestyle, with an average lap time of 37.55 seconds and a final result of 2:30.2.
Coming toward the end of the day, sophomore Alyssa Bravo came through Heat 4 of the women’s 50-yard freestyle with a 29.05 to take first.
Freshman Lilly Arnold said she felt positive about future races.
“The [50-yard butterfly] went a lot better than I thought, and was better than previous races,” Arnold said. “I’m hopeful for the next meet.”
Bravo said she was prepared well for this invitational.
“Practices have prepared us to do well for this invitational, and the coaches have helped a lot,” Bravo said.
A&M Swim Club is open to all skill levels and has tryouts every semester during the first week of classes.
Will Peugh is a Recreation, Parks & Tourism Sciences junior and contributed this piece from the course JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.