No. 5 Texas A&M women’s swimming and diving team remains undefeated after their 171-122 victory of SEC West opponent No. 15 Auburn on Saturday. However, despite seven first-place finishes, the men’s team fell to 2-1 on the season with a 162-138 loss to the Tigers.
The women won 11 of their 16 total events, including six first and second finishes in the 200-free, 100-breast, 200-fly, 200-back, 200-breast and 500-free.
A group of freshmen took four of the top five places in the women’s 1000-freestyle, with Haley Yelle (9:59.37) leading the pack.
Yelle also notched a win in the 500 free with a time of 4:50.89. A trio of Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo, Claire Rasmus and Joy Field followed to secure second, third, and fourth place for the Aggies.
The quartet of Lisa Bratton (25.21), Jorie Caneta (27.60), Jing Wen Quah (24.24), and Beryl Gastaldello (21.83) secured the 200-medley relay win in 1:38.88.
Bratton also scored second place in the 100 back (53.71) and 200 back in 1:55.90.
Gastaldello, who earned SEC Female Swimmer of the Week honors last week, won the 50-free and the 100-free, and was part of the first-place 200-medley relay team.
Texas A&M head coach Steve Bultman told 12thman.com he was proud of the way his team swam against a strong ranked opponent and hopes to see the competitiveness shown by his team tonight the rest of his season.
“We started well with a really solid medley relay time for this time of year, and then we got on a roll,” Bultman said. “We had three double winners and took the two spots in a bunch of races, so I was very happy with the way we competed. We came here wanting to see improvement and we definitely did a bunch of areas. Ultimately, we wanted to race against some really good competition and get a victory, which we were able to do.”
Other Aggies with victories include Caneta in the 100 breast (1:00.93) and 200 breast (2:11.95), Quah in the 200 fly (1:58.88), and Rasmus in the 200 free (1:47.96).
Mauro Castillo led the men’s team with wins in the 100 breast and 200 breast, and placed second in the 200 IM. Senior Brock Bonetti added first place victories in the 100 back and 200 back.
Freshman Adam Koster placed second in the 50 free in 20.27, with Mike Thibert and Duncan Mulleady tying for fourth place with 20.70. Koster also earned second place in the 100 free with his 44.51 finish. Thibert followed in fourth place with 44.91.
Freshman Kurtis Mathews led the way for men’s diving with a first place victory in the 3-meter. Sam Thornton, Tyler Henschel, and Skylar Lake followed to secure the top four spots for the Aggies.
Thornton also earned first place in the 1-meter diving event with a score of 382.65.
Texas A&M Jay Holmes said despite the loss he believes the team will use the early loss as motivation and a learning experience.
“It really was a hard-fought meet, but we lost every close race which was frustrating,” Holmes told 12thman.com. “If we can learn to find a way to get our hand to the wall first no matter what, that will be the next step in our development as a team. And if we do that, we’re going to be really good. We had a bunch of great swims, but we lost way too many close ones.”
The Aggies will host the Texas Longhorns on Friday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m. at the Rec Center Natatorium.