Texas A&M swim and dive returned home to compete in the Last Chance meet. Multiple Aggies were able to qualify for the Swim and Dive NCAA Championship either through time trials or standard events.
Starting off the meet, in women’s 50-yard freestyle trial time, graduate Chloe Stepanek secured her spot in the NCAA Championship, with a final time of 22.14 seconds.
Graduate Jordan Buechler finished with a final time of 1:46.51 in the women’s 200-yard freestyle time trial, which was enough for her to punch her ticket to the Swim and NCAA Championship. Junior Hayden Miller also earned a spot in the NCAA Championship, beating the B-standard time in the women’s 500-yard freestyle time trial, with her time of 4:40.30. She also finished first in the women’s 500-yard freestyle, with a time of 4:39.44.
Miller continued to showcase her talent, finishing first in the women’s 1650-yard freestyle as she beat the B-standard time with her final mark of 16:06.10. Sophomore Ellis Fox also finished first in the women’s 100-yard backstroke, with a time of 52.53, good enough to beat the B-standard time.
In the women’s 200 yard-backstroke time trial, Aviv Barzelay was able to beat the B-standard time, clocking in at 1:53.23. She also finished in first in the women’s 200-yard backstroke, with a time of 1:53.09 to beat the B-standard time. Fox trailed in third, but was still able to beat the B-standard time with a 1:54.62 performance.
Both fifth-year Bobbi Kennett and graduate Desirae Mangaoang were able to beat the B-standard time in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke time trial, with times of 59.98 and 1:01.09. Kennett secured a first place finish in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke, with a time of 59.55. Mangaoang finished in seventh, clocking in at 1:01.11. Both times were good enough to qualify for the NCAA Championship.
In the women’s 200-yard breaststroke time trial, sophomore Hannah O’Leary clocked in 2:11.06, good enough to beat the NCAA B-standard time. Mangaoang, O’Leary, junior Lydia Palmer and freshman Ella Smoker secured second, third, fifth and seventh place results in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke, with times of 2:11.85, 2:12.67, 2:13.26 and 2:12.93. All of those times were good enough to hit the NCAA B-standard threshold.
In the women’s 100-yard butterfly time trial, Fox and Buechler secured another NCAA B-standard finish, clocking in at 52.63 and 53.23, respectively. Sophomore Katie Walker also beat the NCAA B-standard time, timing in at 53.15 on her dash.
Walker also beat te NCAA B-standard time in the women’s 200-yard butterfly time trial, clocking in at 1:55.58. Freshman Kassidy Kitchel secured a third place finish in the women’s 200 yard butterfly, but not enough to qualify for the NCAA Swim and Dive Championship, with a time of 2:03.56.
Stepanek and Buechler secured another NCAA B-standard time in the women’s 200-yard individual medley time trial, with times of 1:57.83 and 1:58.54. Senior Joelle Reddin, sophomore Gracie Walker and junior Kaylee Coffey finished in second, third and fourth place in the women’s 400-yard individual medley, but fell short to meet the NCAA B-standard time, finishing in 4:17.94, 4:21.93 and 4:25.11, respectively.
On the men’s side, freshman Ben Sytsma finished first in the men’s 50-yard freestyle, clocking in 19.51. He beat the NCAA B-standard time to qualify for the NCAA Swim and Dive Championship. Sytsma also beat the NCAA B-standard time in the men’s 100-yard freestyle, blazing to a first place finish in 43.19 seconds.
Freshman Jacob Wimberly also punched his ticket to Federal Way, Washington, beating the NCAA B-standard time in the men’s 200-yard freestyle with a first place finish of 1:33.74.
In men’s 500-yard freestyle, junior Batuhan Filiz secured a first place result —- but fell short of qualifying for the NCAA Swim and Dive Championship — with a time of 4:23.66. Senior Trey Dickey beat the NCAA B-standard time in the men’s 1650-yard freestyle, finishing first in 15:07.39. Filiz trailed in third, but fell short of beating the B-standard time, with a time of 15:30.15.
The Aggies owned the podium in the men’s 100-yard backstroke as junior Shawn Mohseni, sophomore Brendan Studdert and freshman Ryan Rautenbach secured first, second and fourth, with times of 47.91, 48.37 and 49.32, respectively. Graduate Thomas Shomper secured his spot in the NCAA Swim and Dive Championship with a time of 46.35 in the men’s 100-yard backstroke time trial.
Shomper also finished first in the men’s 200-yard Backstroke, clocking in at 1:41.20. He also beat the NCAA B-standard time in both the men’s 200-yard backstroke and the men’s 200-yard backstroke time trial, which he timed at 1:42.30.
Freshman Travis Gulledge and junior Lane White also punched their ticket to the NCAA Swim and Dive Championship, securing first and second in the men’s 100-yard breaststroke, with times of 51.56 and 52.40. Both Gulledge and White also beat the NCAA B-standard time in the men’s 100-yard breaststroke time trial, with times of 52.25 and 52.80.
In the men’s 200-yard breaststroke, the sophomore duo of Logan Brown and Roberto Bonilla Flores beat the NCAA B-standard threshold with times of 1:53.37 and 1:55.85. Brown also beat the NCAA B-standard time in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke time trial, clocking in at 1:53.69.
Despite no one beating the NCAA B-standard time in the men’s 100-yard butterfly, junior McKennzey McDonald secured a first place finish, with a time of 47.54. Dickey beat another NCAA B-standard time in the men’s 200-yard butterfly time trial, clocking in at 1:44.45.
Senior Munzy Kabbara earned his spot in the NCAA Swim and Dive Championship, beating the NCAA B-standard time in the men’s 200-yard individual medley time trial, with a finish of 1:45.59. Kabbara also beat the NCAA B-standard time in the men’s 400-yard individual medley time trial, clocking in at 3:41.61. He also beat the NCAA B-standard time in the men’s 400-yard individual medley, securing first in 3:42.17.
A&M will travel to Iowa City, Iowa to compete in the NCAA Zone D Diving Championship from March 10 to March 12.
