Texas A&M men’s and women’s swimming and diving opened up their 2015 season Wednesday with a 155-145 and a 179-121 victory against Kentucky, respectively.
The Aggie men’s victory was led by sophomores Mauro Castillo and Brock Bonetti, who dominated both the 100 and 200 yard breaststroke and backstroke, respectively.
“For us to win this meet, we thought we had to win the backstrokes and breaststrokes,” A&M men’s head coach Jay Holmes told 12thman.com. “Brock and Mauro did a great job of getting to the wall first in those races.”
Freshman diver Sam Thornton was victorious in his first meet as an Aggie, earning a total score of 383.55 on the one-meter board and a total score of 382.20 on the three-meter board.
“Sam was everything that Coach [Jay] Lerew said he was going to be,” Holmes said. “He was calm and cool, and he went out and did everything we asked of him.”
Junior Jacob Gonzales and freshman Mateo Gonzalez swam a time of 20.63 in the 50 yard free and a 1:51.32 in the 200 IM, respectively. This placed the Aggies ahead of the Wildcats to earn the victory.
The A&M women’s swim team was also victorious at the event. Sophomores Lisa Bratton, Béryl Gastaldello and Kristin Malone and junior Sycerika McMahon won the opening event for the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:41.65.
Junior diver Madison Hudkins earned individual accolades for her one-meter dive score of 306.38.
“We had some good swims and I liked how we raced in our first competition of the season,” A&M head coach Steve Bultman told 12thman.com. “It was a good way to start the year.”
The Aggies were most dominant in the 50 freestyle and the 200 IM with a sweep of three spots in both races.
The women’s swimming and diving team will be in action Oct. 23, where they will be in a dual meet at home against North Texas. Men’s swimming and diving will compete next on Oct. 30 for a dual meet against Incarnate Word at home.