Aggies Add to Winning Streak by Sweeping Holiday Relay Invitational

ORLANDO, Fla, January 9. THE No. 15 Texas A&M men’s and No. 14 women’s teams won their seventh consecutive meet this season by capturing the YMCA Aquatic Center Holiday Relay Invitational on Wednesday afternoon.

The Aggie men beat North Carolina State 162-120 while Frostburg State University was third with 15 points. A&M won eight consecutive relays to close out the meet after dropping the first race to the Wolfpack.

"Our guys got up and did the job after putting in a hard week of training," Texas A&M assistant men's swimming coach Jay Holmes said. "After doing all this training it was good to see our guys race."

Freestyle sprinters Dan Blanchard and Matt Rose were a member of four of A&M's eight winning relay squads. Both men were on the winning 300-yard backstroke, 200 medley, 300 freestyle and 100 freestyle relay winners.

Seniors Josh Hill and Scott Mueller and sophomore Andrew Sullivant swam on three winning relays apiece as well. Hill and Mueller both swam on the winning 800 freestyle and 400 individual medley relays. Mueller joined Sullivant on the winning 850 freestyle crescendo relay (50-100-200-500) while Sullivant joined Blanchard and Rose on the first place 100 and 300 free relays. Hill swam with Blanchard and Rose on the 300 back relay that earned A&M its first win of the afternoon.

Juniors David Friggel and Alfredo Jacobo teamed with sophomore Alex Dawson to win the 300 breaststroke relay in 2:54.03.

The Aggie women topped North Carolina State 173-130 in the relay-only meet while Northern Colorado was third with 26. A&M captured six of the nine relay events overall.

"We won all but three events but we split up a bunch of our top relays as well," Texas A&M head coach Steve Bultman said. "We gave a good effort and got up and raced well. We had people swimming four and five races in a short period of time."

Sophomore Ewelina Zwierzykowski was a member of half of the Aggies' winning relay squads. The sophomore from Corpus Christi swam legs on the winning 300-yard backstroke, 200 medley and 300 freestyle relays. A&M also won the 300 butterfly, 300 breaststroke and 100 freestyle relays.

A&M had five swimmers compete on two winning teams including junior freestyle sprinter Michelle Bird who is back competing for the Aggies for the first time since the spring of 2002. Other swimmers participating on a pair of winning relays on Wednesday were senior Katy Lietzau, sophomores Erin Briskie and Britney Pesek and freshman Rebecca Sturdy.

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