Texas A&M swimming and diving concluded its season with a fourth place finish at the NCAA championships in Atlanta, Georgia. The Aggies, who have placed fourth the last three seasons, earned their 10th consecutive Top 10 finish by totaling 309 points throughout the competition.
Georgia took the national title with a total of 414 points. Stanford trailed the Bulldogs by 19 points with 395 points and California took third, scoring a total of 358 points. The Aggies came in fourth and were followed by Virginia, USC, Indiana, Louisville, NC State and Michigan.
The Aggies were picked to finish sixth in this year’s national meet, two spots lower than last season. Despite their fourth place finish that matched last season’s, Texas A&M head coach Steve Bultman told 12thman.com that he couldn’t have been prouder with his team’s performance and overall end result.
“We were seeded to finish sixth coming into the meet so to be a solid fourth was really good,” Bultman said. “We broke a bunch of school records and came close in some others so that’s always exciting too.”
On Friday, junior Sarah Gibson broke the record in the 100-yard butterfly for second. She first beat the time that was held by teammate Beryl Gastadello in the preliminary round of the meet. Gibson went on to earn second place and lower her original time of 52.01 to 50.61. Gibson came in second to Louisville swimmer Kelsi Worell, who also broke her own NCAA record with a time of 49.43.
Gibson told 12thman.com that she felt happy with the record setting accomplishments which earned her second place.
“I’m honored by their trust in me and I hope this is a small step toward paying them back for everything that I’ve been given,” Gibson told 12thman.com “They saw something in me that even I couldn’t and they knew with a little time and training they could coax that out.
Gibson went on to say that she was surprised with her second place finish since the 100-meter butterfly is not her specialty. She also said that she was pleased to have represented the maroon and white in the highest honor in college swimming.
“If you had told me that I would be second at the NCAA Championships in the 100 fly, even a year ago, I probably would have laughed you out of the building,” Gibson told said. “I’m so proud to be a part of this team and this process and environment. If you want to swim fast, you come to Texas A&M…that’s all there is to it.”
Gibson was awarded All-American honors in all three individual events she swam in along with being a member of the four top 16 relay teams.
Several other Aggies earned All-America Honors for their performances in the meet. Freshman Sydney Pickrem also earned first-team honors in her first NCAA meet for her performance in the 200-yard and 400-yard IMs along with the 800-yard free relay. Sophomore Bethany Galat earned first-team honors in the 200-yard backstroke as well as the 200 and 400 yard IM. Sophomore Esther Gonzalez earned first team honors for her efforts in the 200-yard breaststroke.
