Indiana Men Breakdown Texas Aggies, 137-106

COLLEGE STATION, TX, November 1. INDIANA’S men improved to 2-1 with a 137-106 triumph over No. 19 Texas A&M on Friday, Oct. 29 in College Station, Texas, per reports from IU.

The No. 14 Hoosiers claimed eight of the 13 event titles, while sophomore Colin Russell paced IU with two event crowns.

"I am proud of the team," Head Coach Ray Looze said. "I thought it was a hard fought win. We had quite a bit of travel yesterday, since we practiced, went to class and flew out here in one day. To come in and beat a team of Texas A&M's caliber is a feat. We had some people step up and win some close events. We did a better job on the fundamentals today. To come in here and pick up a quality win returns the favor they gave us last year."

In the opening event of the meet, Texas A&M jumped out to a 13-4 lead when Dan Blanchard, Alfredo Jacobo, Scott Newmann and Andrew Sullivant picked up the 400-yard medley relay title by out-touching IU in 3:19.55. Freshman Ben Hesen, junior Kevin Swander, junior Thomas Clavier and sophomore Lee Houchin came in second place for IU just a second off posting an NCAA provisional qualifying time with a 3:19.73 clocking. The Aggies squad of Matt Neal, David Friggel, Joe Watson and Ozzie Gardner took the final scoring spot in 3:23.82.

The Hoosiers countered by dominating the 1,000-yard freestyle to take a 20-16 lead when freshman Alex Brunfeldt shattered his previous career-best in the event by over 20 seconds to captured the crown in 9:26.14. Classmate John Kevin Koehler took second in 9:34.16, while sophomore Ryan McNeill picked up third in 9:34.97. Mark Solomon (9:40.30) and James Hard (9:48.98) took the last two scoring spots with fourth and sixth-place finishes.

Indiana extended its lead to 34-21 in the 200-yard freestyle on the strength of Russell's first-place 1:40.10 clocking. Texas A&M's Newmann earned runner-up status in 1:41.73, while senior Richard Bryant wound up in third for IU with a 1:42.55. Classmate David Winck rounded out IU scoring in the event with a fourth-place 1:44.06, while A&M's Ryan Loney closed scoring with a fifth-place 1:45.35.

Texas A&M cut the gap to 39-35 in the 50-yard freestyle when Andrew Sullivant posted a B-cut time of 20.14 to claim the event. Sophomore Kyle Ruth finished in a close second with a 20.97, while Clavier took fifth for the Hoosiers in 21.44. For the Aggies, Ross Collins (21.04) and Joe Watson (21.34) took third and fourth.

The Hoosiers responded by pushing their lead to 51-42 in the 200-yard IM when freshman Todd Patrick picked up the event crown in 1:52.04. Sophomore Matt Jensen also scored for IU with a third-place 1:54.44. Alex Dawson (1:54.13), Calvin Zeilsdorf (1:55.05) and Jonathan Moeller (1:55.41) tallied points for the Aggies with second, fourth and fifth place efforts. Also of note, Bryant set a career standard with a 1:55.47 to take sixth, while freshman Alec Haley swam to a career-best 1:59.16 in a non-scoring effort.

In the one-meter springboard, Texas A&M shaved a point of the Hoosier lead to close to within 60-52 when Eric Sehn captured the event title for the Aggies. IU, however, demonstrated its diving depth with a sweep of the next three spots. Senior Marc Carlton came in second place with a 279.98, while freshman Taylor Roberts took third with 267.53 points and senior Brian Metzler tallied a career-high 265.50 for fourth place. Alan Poole claimed the final point for the Aggies with a sixth-place 206.17.

The Cream and Crimson pulled away, 76-55, after a dominant showing in the 200-yard butterfly in which IU swept the top four spots. Senior Murph Halasz won the event in 1:51.67 just ahead of teammate Bryant's second-place 1:51.95. Jensen took third for IU in 1:54.07, while Newmann (1:55.74) and Travnicek (1:56.89) ended up in fifth and sixth place for the Aggies.

Texas A&M would not go away quietly, however, as Sullivant posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 44.65 in the 100-yard freestyle to win the event. Patrick came in second for IU in 45.82, while Houchin took fourth in 46.58. Gardner (46.52) and Collins (47.12) finished in third and fifth place for the Aggies to close out scoring in the event.

Indiana remained in the lead, 94-75, after the 200-yard backstroke in which Hesen overtook his previous best time by clocking a 1:50.04 to out-race A&M's Dan Blanchard, who finished in 1:50.80. Junior Mike Jones claimed third place for the Hoosiers in 1:50.86, while Matt Neal (1:51.61) and Zeilsdorf (1:53.51) picked up points for the Aggies with fourth and fifth place finishes.

The Hoosiers stretched their lead to 109-79 as Russell seized the 500-yard freestyle crown in 4:34.94. Brunfeldt continued his career performance by knocking off four seconds from his personal best in the event with a 4:36.65 for second place. McNeill took fourth place for IU in 4:38.25. For the Aggies, Solomon took third in 4:37.89, while Hard wound up in seventh in 4:46.08.

The IU divers took care of business in the three-meter springboard break as Carlton won the event with a 354.23 string of dives. Roberts finished in third with a 308.33 total, while senior Alex Burns came in fourth with a 289.80. Sehn took second for the Aggies with a 347.78, while Poole posted a 190.43 for sixth place to round out TAMU scoring. The effort improved IU's lead to 123-84.

Swander came up big for the Hoosiers in the 200-yard breaststroke to win the event in 2:01.94 and move IU's lead to 133-93. Texas A&M claimed the next three finishes with Dawson (2:05.19) in second, Jacobo (2:05.48) in third, and Friggel (2:06.63) in fourth. Baldwin picked up a point for IU with a fifth-place 2:07.11. Also of note, Haley posted a personal-best 2:07.63 for sixth place.

IU closed out the 137-106 victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay as Hesen, Bryant, senior Brian Ellsworth and Jones took second place in 3:02.95. Kemp, Collins, Blanchard and Gardner won the event for TAMU in 3:02.63, while Zeilsdorf, Moeller, Travnicek and Neal finished in third place in 3:05.96.

Next up, the Cream and Crimson men battle SMU in Dallas on Oct. 30 at 2 p.m.

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