NCAA Div. I: Texas A&M Sweeps Louisiana-Monroe

MONROE, La., Jan. 119. THE Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team won its second dual meet in two days with a win over the Louisiana-Monroe Indians at Lake C. Oxford Natatorium on Saturday afternoon.

The Aggies won all but one event, the 200 backstroke, in cruising to a 157-86 victory.

"The meet went pretty much as expected," said A&M head coach Steve Bultman. "We swam a lot of people in events different than they were accustomed to. Others we had swim with a different game plan as to what they might do in specific points of the race as opposed to what they might normally do."

Redshirt freshman Casey Mucha was double winner on Saturday, capturing both the 100 and 1,000 freestyle events. Freshman Kelsey Savage also was a double winner taking both the 200 breaststroke and the 400 individual medley.

Two-time All-American Meghan Zack got back on track with a sweep on both the one and three-meter springboard.

Ashley Roark won her third event in two days with a third personal best clocking of 1:08.66 in the 100 breaststroke.

Other Aggies earning victories were Christina Thompson, 200 butterfly; Danielle Townsend, 100 backstroke; Kimarie Durso, 200 freestyle; Courtney Patterson, 50 freestyle; Tiffany Moore, 500 freestyle; and Michelle Bird, 100 butterfly.

A&M also captured wins in both relay events. The foursome of Laura DeCook, Karri Tibball, Millie Reynolds and Sarah Yates won the the 200 medley relay in 1:50.96, while DeCook, Reynolds, Katy Lietzau and TMoore won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:42.82.

The win over the Indians moves A&M's record to 6-4 on the season. The Aggies will travel to Houston on Saturday, Jan. 26, for a dual meet with the Rice Owls at Rice Pool scheduled for 1 p.m.

The No. 19 Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team defeated the University of Louisiana-Monroe 141-80 at Lake C. Oxford Natatorium Saturday afternoon without the services of nine of its top athletes.

Following a dual meet win over Louisiana State on Friday, eight of A&M's top swimmers, as well as diver Jesse Even, traveled to Dallas to compete in the two-day Dallas Morning News Swimming & Diving Classic held on Friday and Saturday on the campus of Southern Methodist University.

"We did a good job of stepping up and competing with a smaller squad today," said A&M assistant coach Jay Holmes. "We had several people really step up and meet the challenge in the absence of some of our other guys."

Three Aggies were double winners on the afternoon. All-American Nik Tate won the 100 breaststroke and the 100 butterfly, Patrick Dideum captured both the 200 and 500 freestyles and Dan Blanchard was victorius in the 50 freestyle and the 200 backstroke.

In what turned out to be the most exciting race of the day, redshirt freshman Joel Travnicek won the 200 butterfly by taking the lead right at the wall.

Another redshirt freshman, Ross Collins, won his first race as an Aggie by capturing the 100 freestyle.

A&M exhibitioned the final two events, but did record first place times in each. Matt Day touched the wall first in the 400 individual medley as did the 200 medley relay.

The Aggies will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 26, and are scheduled to face the No. 3 Texas Longhorns at the Student Rec Center Natatorium in College Station at approximately 3 p.m.

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