Big 12 Weekly Preview: Longhorns Take on The Aggies, Kansas Hosts Nebraska

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Photo Courtesy: Dan D'Addona

By Jason Tillotson.

Despite being a relatively quiet week for the Big 12, there are still some match ups that could bring national attention. The UT Longhorns will try and revive their dual meet season by defeating the SEC powerhouse, Texas A&M. Meanwhile, out West, we will see Kansas continue their successful season by taking on the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Here’s a closer look at this week’s action:

Texas travels to Texas A&M

The University of Texas men’s swimming and diving team will travel to College Station, Texas this Friday to take on Texas A&M.

The Longhorns are coming off two losses, one to Florida and one to Indiana, from their tri-meet just a few weeks ago. Texas has been struggling to put together fast dual meet swims so far this season, but has done well against Texas A&M in the past, having defeated them twice over the past five years.

The UT men may have several world-class swimmers on their roster (Townley Haas, Joseph Schooling, Austin Katz, etc.) but Texas A&M are bringing their heavy hitters as well with former junior national teamer and multi-talented Benjamin Walker among those names. Mauro Castillo Luna, a standout senior, should help the Aggies out with scoring points in the breaststroke events, which is an area the Longhorns are seriously lacking in.

The most dominant events for the Longhorns, and the weakest for the Aggies, should be the freestyle events, specifically the distance events, since in the shorter distances, both teams have an abundance of 20-second and 44-second 50 and 100 freestylers. The A&M men don’t have anyone who has been better than 4:30 and 9:15 in the 500 and 1000 freestyle while Texas has three men under 4:30 and two under 9:15.

Regardless of the outcome, this dual should be an exciting one to watch as we approach mid-season taper meets.

The University of Texas women’s team will also be in College Station facing the Aggies this weekend. For more information on that meet, click here.

Kansas hosts Nebraska

Kansas University will host the Nebraska Cornhuskers this weekend after three consecutive successful weekends.

The KU Jayhawks are coming off of three straight wins over Liberty, South Dakota and TCU. At each of those duals Kansas was able to establish themselves as tough competitors. After losing after the first day of their dual with Liberty, KU came back to win the next day. Kansas has proved they are willing to put their head down and fight for each victory.

The Jayhawks and Cornhuskers will be evenly matched in most of the freestyle events ranging from the 50 to the 1000 yard races, this will provide the crowd with some very close finishes.

The butterfly and breaststroke events are areas where Kansas could lose some points to Nebraska, simply because of the size of their roster. Nebraska is far deeper than Kansas in both the 100 and 200 distances of butterfly and breaststroke. For example, Nebraska has three ladies at 2:04.8 or better in the 200 butterfly whereas Kansas only has one, Ellie Flanagan. In the 100 breaststroke, the Cornhuskers have three swimmers at 1:04.5 or better and Kansas only has one.

Despite the depth of Nebraska’s roster Kansas should be able to put up a good fight.

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