SMU vs. Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, January 30. THE No. 20 SMU Mustangs nipped the Aggies in the final race of the night to earn a hard-fought 122-121 victory on A&M's Senior Night on Friday at the TAMU Student Recreation Natatorium. It was the first one-point dual match decision for the Aggies since a 122-121 victory over SMU in 1991.

The Aggies held a 115-111 lead going into the 400-yard freestyle relay, but SMU finished .26 of a second ahead of A&M for race victory and the dual meet win. SMU finished in 2:56.85, just ahead of the Aggie foursome that touched the wall in 2:57.11.

"It was a great college dual meet," Aggie head swimming coach Jay Holmes said. "The 400 free relay is a great way to end a meet. Both teams swam great, and I was proud of the way we competed."

Senior Eric Sehn and the A&M diving crew were dominant on Senior Night by sweeping the top three spots in the one- and three-meter dives. Sehn led the way with a pair of victories, taking the 1m board with 391.65 points and the 3m board with 422.18 points. Sehn was closely trailed by January enrollee Grant Nel, who was competing in his first collegiate competition, and fellow freshman Cam McLean.

"I don't recall ever finishing 1-2-3 in dual meet in both dives, so I'm pleased with the way we competed," Aggie diving coach Kevin Wright said. "We're doing fine, but we're not nearly where we want to be when the NCAA Championships roll around. It was a bittersweet night with Eric competing for the last time in front of the home crowd. He's been a great representative of Texas A&M athletics and I'm extremely proud of him."

A&M jolted the Mustangs early in the meet by opening the competition with a victory in the 400-yard medley relay. The foursome of junior Jason Bergstrom, junior Nathan Lavery, sophomore Boris Loncaric and junior Casey Strange grabbed the victory with an NCAA consideration time of 3:15.79.

Two races later, sophomore Balazs Makany kept the momentum going the Aggies' way with a school record-setting victory in the 200 freestyle. The Hungarian Olympian won in a time of 1:36.21, which broke the record of 1:36.85 set by Patrick Kennedy in 2002. Makany added to his victory total later in the meet with a win in the 100 free in 43.73, which ranks No. 6 in school history. Both times were NCAA consideration times.

The Aggies took the lead into the final race after sophomore Bryan Snowden led a 1-4-5 A&M finish in the 200 breaststroke. Snowden, who earlier in the day swam the fastest breaststroke split of his career on the 400 medley relay (54.35), cruised to a strong victory in the 200 breast with a career-best time of 2:00.07.

"With the meet on the line, Bryan swam the best time of his career after swimming the best split of his career earlier in the meet," Holmes said. "He has a great attitude and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get better. We had a lot of question marks at breaststroke entering the year with the graduation of Alejandro Jacobo, but Bryan has really stepped up for us."

Special thanks to Texas A&M for contributing this report.

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