Texas A&M, Georgia Battle For SEC Supremacy; Women’s Meet Decided In Last Relay

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, January 11. TWO of the top schools in the Southeastern Conference and the entire country finished in a dead-heat last night, as the University of Georgia and Texas A&M women battled it out to the end but finished in a tie at 150 points each. Meanwhile, the Georgia men had an easier time dispatching the Aggie men, posting a convincing 173-127 victory over their SEC rivals.

Texas A&M Women’s Press Release

A pair of Southeastern Conference swimming and diving heavyweights traded haymakers to the final race, but neither No. 2 Texas A&M or No. 4 Georgia could deliver the knockout blow as the two teams battled to a 150-150 tie on Friday at the Student Recreation Center. The Aggies return to the pool for a 1 p.m. dual meet against SMU on Saturday at the Rec.

Trailing for much of the meet, the defending SEC and NCAA team champion Bulldogs grabbed a narrow 144-139 lead heading into the final race of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay. But the Aggie foursome of junior Sammie Bosma, senior Erica Dittmer, sophomore Meredith Oliver and junior Lili Ibanez rose to the challenge and won comfortably in a time of 3:17.89 to Georgia’s runner-up finish of 3:18.74.

The race for third was hotly contested as the Bulldogs “B” team finished just .03 of a second ahead of the Aggies “B” squad, 3:22.67-3:22.70. The race win gave the Aggies 11 points, while the Bulldogs’ second and third place finishes produced six points for the final score of 150-150.

Bosma, from Marietta, Ga., was dominant against the Bulldogs as she swam a leg on both victorious relays and posted a pair of individual wins. Bosma won the 50 free in 22.79 and followed with a win in the 100 free in 49.51.

Also logging a pair of wins was senior Breeja Larson, who swept the breaststroke races. The 2012 U.S. Olympian held off a challenge from Georgia’s Melanie Margalis in the 100 breast to win 59.51 to 59.98, and she cruised to the victory in the 200 breast in a time of 2:09.66. Larson also swam a leg on the Aggies’ victorious 200 medley relay.

In addition to her work on the medley relay, Miller posted a victory in the 100 backstroke in a time of 53.45 and she took second in the 100 fly in 54.77.

Senior Cammile Adams, also a 2012 U.S. Olympian, won her specialty, the 200 fly, in a time of 1:57.59, and also chipped in valuable points with a second place effort in the 400 IM (4:15.73) and a third-place finish in the 100 fly (55.02).

The Aggies opened the meet with an impressive win in the 200 medley relay with Miller, Larson, senior Caroline McElhany and Bosma touching the wall in 1:39.47.

Texas A&M Men’s Press Release

The Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving team fell to No. 10 Georgia at the A&M Student Recreation Natatorium Friday. The Bulldog’s depth led to the 173-127 duel meet defeat.

Already in the spotlight for senior night, Kyle Troskot had a huge meet, making the most of his last meet at home. Troskot went under :20 again this season in the 50 free hitting the wall first in 19.95, trailed closely by teammate sophomore Cory Bolleter who took second in 20.49. Troskot also led the Aggies to a sweep of the 100 free with a finish in 44.37 followed by senior Henrik Lindau in 45.12, and Bolleter in 45.59. With the squad of sophomore Alexandros Theocharidis, senior Jack Burley, Lindau, and Troskot, the Aggies took 2nd in the 200 medley in 1:30.24.

“We had a lot of good swims and I’m really proud of Kyle Troskot and our divers,” said head coach Jay Holmes. “It was good to face a top 10 team at this point in the season and I know we will see them again at the SEC and NCAA championships.”

Other seniors stepping up were Omar Enriquez who grabbed 3rd in the 200 fly (1:50.52), and a pair of 4th place finishes in the 1000 free (9:25.82) and 500 free (4:32.74). Paul-Marc Schweitzer took 3rd place in the 200 back (1:49.12), and finished in 2nd in the 200 free (1:39.64) just ahead of teammate sophomore Mateo Muzek who touched third (1:39.66). Burley and Lindau came through with second place finishes in the 100 breast (58.36) and 100 fly (49.24), respectively.

Other scoring performances came from Theocharidis in the 100 back (49.86) who finished in second and junior Hayden Duplechain who grabbed a pair of third place finishes in the 200 breast (2:06.31) and the 400 IM (4:00.12).

Not all the action happened in the lanes, however, as the Aggies scored 31 points in the diving well. In the 1-meter diving competition, junior Ford McLiney took 1st place with a score of 379.58. Taking second place was senior Adam Ruiz with 290.33. The Aggies made a full sweep in the 3-meter competition as McLiney scored 390.93 for first, Ruiz scored 344.18 for runner-up, and freshman Zachary Stockton scored 294.68 for third.

After displaying their depth by sweeping the 100 freestyle, the Aggies went on to close out the meet with a victory in the 400 free relay. The squad of freshman Ayar Turker, Bolleter, Troskot, and Schweitzer touched the wall before anyone else to win in 2:59.19.

The seniors recognized prior to the meet were: Jack Burley (College Station, Texas), Omar Enriquez (San Andreas Tuxtla, Mexico), Simon Frank (Stockholm, Sweden), Henrik Lindau (Karlskrona, Sweden), Bryan Michaels (Shoreline, Wash.), Antonio Page-Kahn (Albuquerque, N.M.), Adam Ruiz (Lubbock, Texas), Paul-Marc Schweitzer (Boersch, France), Kyle Troskot (Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) and Donnie Walker (San Antonio, Texas).

“I don’t care where other teams are right now,” added Holmes. “Every team in the county is tired at this point. We will just work on finding ways to get better, better than other teams, and get a lot sharper.”

The Aggies have set their focus on their next duel meet when they travel to Baton Rouge, La. on January 18 to they take on long-time rival and conference opponent LSU.

Georgia Press Release

While the Georgia men’s swimming and diving team was coasting to victory, the Lady Bulldogs found themselves in a top-5 shootout against Texas A&M on Friday at the Student Rec Center Natatorium.

The fourth-ranked Lady Bulldogs and the No. 2 Aggies wound up in a rare 150-150 tie. Georgia moved to 7-0-1 on the season and 3-0-1 in the SEC, while the Aggies went to 4-0-1 and 2-0-1. That is just the second tie in the history of Georgia’s program, which dates back to 1973. The 1982 Georgia-Tennessee meet finished 74-74.

The No. 10 Bulldogs improved to 7-1 and 3-1, while the Aggies fell to 1-2 and 0-2 as Georgia rolled up a 173-127 decision.

The women’s meet came down to the final race: the 400 freestyle relay. Texas A&M won in 3:17.89 and Georgia was second in 3:18.74, giving the Aggies a 150-148 edge. The Lady Bulldogs’ B relay of Jessica Graber, Lauren Harrington, Jordan Mattern and Amber McDermott got home in 3:22.67 for a three-100ths of a second edge over A&M and the final critical two points of the meet.

The Lady Bulldogs trailed by as much as 19 points three times on Friday. But they scratched back with wins in four straight events: McDermott in the 500 freestyle, Harrington in the 100 butterfly, Laura Ryan on the 1-meter springboard and Melanie Margalis in the 400 individual medley, setting the stage for the relay fireworks.

Margalis and Ryan each won twice for the Lady Bulldogs. Margalis took the 200 backstroke with a season-best time of 1:55.99 and went 4:10.47 in the 400 individual medley, winning by more than five seconds. Ryan claimed both springboard titles, taking the 1-meter with 308.71 points and the 3-meter with 366.52 points.

The 200 freestyle title went to Shannon Vreeland, who reached the wall in 1:47.37 McDermott posted a time of 4:45.09 to win the 500 freestyle. Brittany MacLean paced the field in the 1,000 freestyle, stopping the clock in a season-best 9:40.18. Harrington touched in 54.40 to claim a victory in the 100 butterfly.

Nicolas Fink, Matias Koski and Ty Stewart all won three events for the Bulldogs. Fink swept the breaststroke races in 55.88 and 2:04.01, respectively. Koski took the 200 freestyle in 1:38.29 and led a 1-2-3 effort by the Bulldogs in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:27.19. Stewart won the 200 butterfly in 1:48.34 and the 400 individual medley in 3:55.47.

Andrew Gemmell claimed the 1,000 freestyle in 9:14.27 to spark a 1-2-3 finish by the Bulldogs. Taylor Dale touched first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 48.92. Jared Markham won the 200 backstroke in 1:48.27. Pace Clark took the 100 butterfly in 49.16. The 200 medley relay of Dale, Fink, Doug Reynolds and Michael Trice won with a time of 1:29.32.

“What a memorable meet that was,” said Harvey Humphries, Georgia’s Senior Associate Head Coach. “I’m just so proud of our kids for the maturity they showed. No one ever let up and they raced hard all the way through. This was a meet of character. Everyone gave it all they had.”

Georgia will continue its tour of the Lone Star State by visiting Texas on Saturday at 11 a.m. The Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center will serve as the host venue for the women’s NCAA Championships in March.

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