This Saturday, the Texas A&M swimming and diving teams will take on Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge at the LSU Natatorium.
The LSU Tigers sit at 6-3 overall this season, and are coming off of a road sweep of Delta State this past weekend. The men’s team defeated the Statesmen 175-100, while the women dominated their match 195-90.
LSU head swim coach Dave Geyer praised the team for performing well against Delta State after a two-month break between meets.
“I thought there was a chance we would come out a little rusty but we didn’t,” Geyer told lsusports.com. “We came out with all cylinders firing, starting getting some wins and fast times and gained a lot of momentum.”
Heading into the meet, the Aggie men, No. 4 in the nation, sit at 5-3 overall while the women are 3-2. Both teams are coming off losses last weekend to Georgia, with the men falling in a close top-15 contest 157-143. The No. 19 Aggie women fell to the No. 8 Bulldogs 169-131.
On the men’s side, junior Benjamin Walker was the standout of the contest. Walker finished first in all the events he competed in: the 100 breast (54.08), 200 breast (1:57.26) and the 200 IM (1:47.24). Sophomore Shane Casas added wins of his own in the 100 back (47.21) and the 200 back (1:43.86), while securing a second place finish in the 100 fly (47.73).
As for diving, freshman Kurtis Mathews and freshman Victor Povzner finished first and second respectively in both events. Mathews secured two top finishes with scores of 447.53 in the three-meter and 398.85 in the one-meter. Povzner finished second with scores of 356.70 and 371.33 in the one-meter and three-meter.
Men’s coach Jay Holmes said he will be using the loss as a learning experience and is looking forward to the meet against LSU.
“Obviously, with today we aren’t as happy as we could’ve been, but we’re going to learn something from this,” Holmes told 12thman.com. “We’re going to go to LSU looking forward to a great meet.”
At the women’s meet, the contest featured several top three finishes and multiple close races in the diving competition. A&M junior Charlye Campbell took the gold in both the one-meter (298.05) and the three-meter (328.28). The Aggies earned a 1-2-3 finish in the one-meter as freshmen Alyssa Clairmont secured second (275.40) and senior Haley Allen notched third (274.73).
In the swimming portion of the meet, the Aggies secured first in the 200 medley relay with the team of redshirt senior Raena Eldridge, senior Anna Belousova, sophomore Emma Carlton and senior Golf Sapianchai finishing in 1:40.08. Belousova also notched multiple top-three finishes, as she took first in the 200 breast (2:12.05) and recorded third in the 100 breast (1:00.95).
Campbell said she was proud of her and the team’s performance.
“I was really proud of my performance today,” Campbell told 12thman.com. “I thought all three of us girls did really well; the boys did really well.”
The meet against LSU will start at 11 a.m. and will be the second-to-last dual meet of the season before the 2020 SEC Championships. This match will be the final home meet for LSU, who will travel to Houston and Auburn to finish off their season.