Honoring seniors before the final dual meet of the season attracted many fans to the Student Recreation Center Natatorium on Saturday morning. Tiger and Aggie fans alike were expecting high-caliber competition, and they were not let down.
The No. 4 Aggie Women (9-0, 4-0 SEC) kicked off a bittersweet morning against No. 20 Tigers (4-4, 1-4 SEC) with a nail-biting 400 medley relay. After hanging onto second for the majority of the race, senior Sammi Bosma pulled a huge comeback in the final moments to claim A&M victory with a final time of 3:39.70. In her last swim before the NCAA National Championships in Auburn, senior Sarah Henry led the women to a 500 free with a time of 4:49.25. The women went on to top LSU 153-124.
The unranked men (6-3, 1-2 SEC) capped a solid start with 1-2-3 victory over the unranked Tigers (2-5, 0-5 SEC) in the 100 backstroke. SEC Freshman of the Week Brock Bonetti headed the pack with a time of 48.69. Clocking in behind him were juniors Jacob Wallace (48.73) and Alexandros Theocharidis (49.06). Freshman Mauro Castillo later set a Texas A&M school record in the 200 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:55.65, beating Bryan Snowden’s time of 1:56.55 set in 2011. The Aggies would dominate the Tigers with a 166-121 victory.
To cap an exciting afternoon, the seven senior women came out of the locker dressed like senior citizens and danced for the crowd. Each was paired with a freshman before racing inner tubes down the pool. It was a perfect ending to the regular season.
The Aggie divers return to action when they head to Colorado Springs to compete in the AFA Diving Invitational on January 30. The next full competition is the SEC Championship in Auburn, Ala. starting Tuesday, February 17.