Both of the Texas A&M swim teams experienced great success in their home debut against Ohio State in at the Rec Center Natatorium on Friday and Saturday.
The No. 12 women finished 50 points ahead of the No. 14 Buckeyes, ending with a score of 174-124, while the No. 11 men earned a close win of 153-147 over No. 5 Ohio State.
At the end of the first day of the meet, the Aggies had swimmers at the top of the leaderboard, including freshman Victor Povzner and junior Charlye Campbell, who were both in first place.
The women finished first in diving in day one. In one-meter diving, Campbell finished on top of the leaderboard, recording a 301.88. Freshman Alyssa Clairmont finished in third place, registering a 281.18. Junior Harper Walding placed sixth with 271.72, and sophomore Chloe Ceyanes placed eighth at 248.85.
“Charlye has been coming out of a neck injury lately, but she fought it out,” A&M diving coach Jay Lerew told 12thman.com. “She did really well today, and I was real proud of her.”
For the men, senior Mike Thibert recorded his Olympic Trial cut time in the 50 free event at 23.09 in day one.
Sophomore Shaine Casas narrowly broke the pool record in College Station for the 100 LC meter backstroke, coming in with a time 54.43. Casas broke the previous record of 54.89, which was held by Olympian Aaron Piersol in 2007.
In the second day of competition for the Aggies, the men began with a strong lead of 12-7. After the one-meter dive the Buckeyes held a 23-point advantage over the Aggies, but a strong 1-2 finish in the 200 breast and the 200 IM by senior Benjamin Walker and freshman Andres Puente got A&M back on top.
The final event of the day was the 400 free relay, which resulted in the victory for the Aggies after a group of Buckeyes was disqualified.
Junior Kurtis Mathews placed fourth in diving with a score of 347.25 and Povzner finished in fifth with 335.85. Mathews and Povzner collectively recorded three points for A&M.
The women continued their success on Friday. Campbell received first both days for A&M, earning 306.60 on the 3-meter and 301.88 on the 1-meter dives. Freshman Alyssa Clairmont ended in third place for both events, recording 278.17 in the 3-meter and notching 281.18 in the 1-meter, contributing critical points for the Aggies.
Sophomore Caroline Theil earned her first Olympic Trial cut time during the competition, documenting a time of 2:17.35 in the 200 IM event.
“I really thought it was going to be really close, but winning the 200 relay really got us off to a good start,” women’s coach Steve Bultman told 12thman.com. “Karling Hemstreet and Camryn Toney going 1-2 in the 200 free was huge, especially right after we didn’t do as well as we wanted in the 1,000 so that was really important. Emma Carlton, Anna Belousova and Raena Eldridge all won two events each. We had some girls who stepped up. I was really pleased.”