Texas A&M Swimming and Diving hosted LSU in a dual meet at the Student Rec Center Natatorium on Saturday, Jan. 21, in College Station.
The Aggie men’s and women’s teams dominated in the water on Senior Day, winning first place in 14 events and claiming victory over the LSU Tigers. The No. 10 men’s team rallied to a 171-129 victory over the Tigers, while the No. 19 women’s team held its own against LSU with a score of 177-123.
For the men, sophomore Trey Dickey shined in the distance events where he claimed first place in the 1,000-meter with a time of 9:15:39, and the top spot again in the 500-meter at 4:31.08.
Meanwhile for the women, junior Abby Grottle dominated the distance events with two first-place finishes in the 1,000-meter at 9:58:59, and 500-meter freestyle with a time of 4:53:01. Grottle also placed second in the 200-meter free with a time of 1:49.08 behind the first place winner, junior Chloe Stepanek with her time of 1:47.46. Stepanek also claimed first in the 100-meter freestyle clocking in at 49.88.
In the men’s 200-meter freestyle, freshman individual medley and backstroke swimmer Baylor Nelson won first with a time of 1:37.64. Nelson also claimed second in the 100-meter freestyle at 44.62.
For the women’s 100-meter breaststroke, the Aggies took the top-three spots with junior Bobbi Kennett leading the pack with 1:01.41, followed by senior Andrea Perttula clocking in at 1:02.20 and coming in third was junior Charlotte Longbottom at 1:02.28. The success the ladies had in the 100-meter followed them to the 200-meter breaststroke as they claimed the top-four finishes. First place was given to sophomore Joelle Reddin with a time of 2:16.75, who was followed by senior Caroline Theil at 2:17.72 and junior Desirae Mangaoang with 2:20.56, while Longbottom rounded out at fourth with a time of 2:22.26.
On the diving board, both the men’s and womens’ teams held their own against the Tigers. For the men, junior Victor Povzner placed first in both the 3-meter with a score of 421.65 and first in the 1-meter with a score of 385.95. For the women, senior Alyssa Clairmont finished first in both the 1-meter with a score of 310.20 and in the 3-meter with a score of 358.65.
In a post-meet interview, Coach Jay Holmes commented on the success of the meet.
“We have had a few dual meets this year that have been ugly in places, but it was a fun meet, it was challenging for our team,” Holmes said. “Both teams, you could tell, were not primed for this. But SEC [Championships] are what both of these teams are getting ready for. We are doing everything we can, at this point in the season, to get to SECs primed and rested.”
The next matchup for both teams is another dual meet next week on Friday, Jan. 27th at 3 p.m. against SMU in Dallas.
“Finishing 1-2-3 in the 1,000 and the 500 free is not something that happens for us very often,” Holmes said. “That was a big deal. The meet got pretty tight in the middle of it, we were neck-and-neck with LSU. LSU won the 100 back and 100 breast and all of a sudden, after the 50 free, they were winning at the first break. The second half of the meet I figured we would pull away, but LSU made it interesting in places, which was their job to do here. We were able to pull away and get the win.”