Coming off of a dominant home win against Incarnate Word, Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving team will head east for a two-meet trip in Florida.
At last week’s home opener, the Aggies dominated the Cardinals, winning 15 of the 16 events at the meet. Freshman Mateo Gonzalez, sophomores Mauro Castillo and Brock Bonetti and junior Jacob Gonzales set the pace for the Aggies to win the opening event of the meet.
Texas A&M head coach Jay Holmes said he was happy with the result of his team’s home opener victory and was particularly happy with the performances of freshman Mateo Gonzalez and Angel Martinez, who knew each other before they represented the maroon and white together.
“Angel Martinez and Mateo Gonzalez have been competitors since they were ten years old, they’ve never been on the same team but now they are,” Holmes said “and anytime those guys get into the water, it is fun to watch them. They’re great friends, great teammates.”
Gonzalez, who earned SEC weekly honors after his performance against Incarnate Word, said having Martinez by his side allows him to perform at his greatest potential.
“We’re still competitors even though we’re on the same team — we still push ourselves every day. Before meets we say good luck but we also want to beat each other,” Gonzalez said. “So I think having Angel beside me and him having me beside him — it just helps us push even more than we can or want.”
The Aggies will travel to Florida to compete in two separate meets. The first will be Thursday in Fort Pierce against the Indian River State College Pioneers, who will be hosting their first home meet. The second meet will be on Saturday in Boca Raton against the Florida Atlantic Owls. This will be a test for the Aggies due to their short amount of time to rest.
“I think it’s not that hard, you just have to think positive and that’s it — it’s just a race,” Martinez said. “It’s what you do every single day so it’s not out of the world.”
A&M will start their first meet at 1 p.m. on Thursday in Fort Pierce, while Saturday’s meet in will begin at 9 a.m. in Boca Raton.
