The No. 7 Texas A&M men’s swimming team was unable to sweep all schools in its northeast tour as wins over Boston University and Harvard were followed up by a close loss to Duke.
A&M competed against Boston University on Thursday, Nov. 7 at the Boston Aquatic Center and faced Harvard and Duke on Nov. 9 at Blodgett Pool in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In Boston, A&M topped Boston University 113-81. At the meet, seven different Aggie swimmers placed first in their respective individual events. Freshman Jace Brown secured his first ever individual win in the 100 free. Junior Felipe Rizzo, sophomore Clayton Bobo and senior Jake Gibbons all won their first races of the season in the 1000 free, the 50 free, and the 200 back respectively.
Senior Adam Koster, sophomore Shaine Casas and senior Benjamin Walker continued to pile on their first place totals for the season in the 200 free, 200 fly, and the 500 free.
On a day where all the swimmers had their quickest times of the season, A&M coach Jay Holmes said the meet allowed the Aggies to focus on areas that needed improvement.
“Today was good for us, because we got to work on some events that we don’t get to race often enough,” Holmes said. “For example, Adam Koster in the 200 Free, Shaine [Casas] in the 200 Fly, and Benjamin [Walker] in the 400 IM are all places that we need more work on.”
After the Aggies finished up on Thursday, they had to travel from Boston to Cambridge to complete the second part of their roadtrip in Blodgett Pool.
A&M was able to carry over their strong Thursday performance to Saturday as five swimmers placed first in individual events. Casas continued his impressive season with a first place finish in the 100 and 200 back events. Koster pulled out another first-place finish in the 50 free and Brown added another victory in the 200 fly, a race that saw him come back from fourth place to first in the final split of the race.
In addition to the repeated success from Casas and Koster, the Aggies seem to have a dynamic duo brewing between Walker and freshman Andres Puente as they topped the 100 and 200 yard breastroke events. The duo has placed in the top two spots together seven times this season and nine times in the top five.
Despite five first-place finishes, the Aggies were not able to stop Duke from winning the event.
Holmes said he knew the meet would be close heading into it.
“We knew going in it would be this type of meet versus Duke, where hundredths and tenths of seconds would decide the meet,” Holmes said. “It lived up to that. We won some events like that, but unfortunately for us we got out-touched in too many of them, too.”
With the loss to Duke, the Aggies are now 3-2 record on the season after picking up two wins this roadtrip against Boston University and Harvard.
A&M will host the Art Adamson Invite at the Rec Center Natatorium from Nov. 21-23.