Texas A&M Spoils Senior Day with Sweep of LSU; Walker, Koster Set Pool Marks

Jing Wen Quah Photo Courtesy: Thomas Campbell/Texas A&M Athletics

The No. 4 Texas A&M men’s swimming & diving team claimed victory in a dominant fashion, racking up 15 first-place finishes out 16 events on the day to earn a 182-113 win at the LSU Natatorium Saturday afternoon. The No. 19 women’s team got back on track by defeating LSU on the road, 191.5-105.5, earning first in all but one race and secured multiple sweeps

Women’s Meet

The Aggies started off with a 1-2-3 finish in the 1000 Free with Joy Field earning first (10:06.89), Camryn Toney securing second (10:10.17) and Ashley Conrad not far behind in third (10:18.22). Katie Portz earned her first first-place finish of the meet in the 200 Free (1:49.12), followed by Karling Hemstreet in third (1:50.24).

The Maroon & White clinched a 1-2 finish in the 100 Back with Emma Carlton in front (54.49) and Sara Metzsch in second (55.09). The Aggies swept the 100 Breast, with Anna Belousova earning gold (1:01.99), Victoria Roubique taking second (1:03.33) and Caroline Theil securing third (1:03.57). Jing Wen Quah touched the wall first in the 100 Fly (1:57.60), with Taylor Pike earning second (1:59.88).

The 50 Free resulted in another 1-2 punch from the Aggies, with Raena Eldridge in first (23.17) and Golf Sapianchai in second (23.51). Eldridge and Quah added podium finishes in the 100 Free, with Eldridge in first (50.99) and Quah in second (51.49). Metzsch secured second in the 200 Back (2:00.14) and Kara Eisenmann took third (2:01.98). Belousova claimed her second first-place finish of the day in the 200 Breast (2:13.63) with Theil behind her in second (2:15.00).

It was more of the same for A&M in the 500 Free with Portz securing her second first-place finish of the day (4:55.51), followed by Field in second (4:56.70). Carlton touched the wall first again in the 100 Fly (54.55), with Pike not far behind in second (56.00). Theil recorded her third top-three finish of the meet, taking first in the 200 IM (2:00.46). The women closed out the meet the only way they knew how, as a team. Portz, Sapianchai, Carlton and Eldridge wrapped the competition with a first-place finish in the 400 Free Relay (3:23.64).

The diving squad had a successful meet on the boards with Charlye Campbell earning gold in the 3-Meter (319.73) and Alyssa Clairmont claiming third (298.43). The 1-Meter saw Campbell take second (276.30) and Clairmont take third (274.80).

For LSU, Cassie Kalisz won the 200-Yard Backstroke for the seventh time this season as she touched the wall in 1:58.96. In the 100-Yard Back, Kalisz finished in third place with a time of 55.63. Helen Grossman finished in second place in 100-Yard Fly with a time of 54.85. The senior also finished in third place in the 200-Yard Fly with a time of 2:01.23. Katarina Milutinovich notched two second place finishes as the freshman touched the wall in 51.31 in the 100-Yard Free and 1:49.22 in the 200-Yard Free.

Summer Stanfield and Niamh Robinson finished second and third in the 200-Yard IM with times of 2:03.00 and 2:06.33. Stanfield also finished in third place in the 500-Yard Free with a time of 4:57.07. Robinson would go on to finish in third place in the 200-Yard Breast with a time of 2:15.99. Olivia Taylor finished third in the 50-Yard Free with a time of 23.55.

Men’s Meet

Senior Benjamin Walker highlighted the team’s performance as he set a pool record in the 200 breast, finishing four seconds ahead of his closest competition, while classmate Adam Koster notched a pool record of his own as the leadoff in the 400 free relay.

The 200 medley relay team of sophomore Shaine Casas, Walker, Koster and senior Mike Thibert got things started for the Aggies, as it earned the top spot in the first event of the day. Sophomore Mark Schnippenkoetter and junior Felipe Rizzo continued the momentum with first- and third-place finishes, respectively, in the 1000 free.

Walker and freshman Andres Puente tacked on a 1-2 finish in the 100 breast as the Aggies locked up the top two spots for the first of three times against LSU.

It was a head-to-head battle for the Aggies in the 100 free, when junior Mark Theall was able to get his hand on the wall just two-tenths of a second before Thibert as the pair added another 1-2 finish for A&M.

Despite a four-second differential in finish times, the Aggies claimed first and second for the third time when Walker set an LSU Natatorium record with a 1:56.72 finish in the 200 breast and Puente was again just behind him. Walker earned his third victory of the day and wrapped up the individual events with an NCAA B-cut finish in the 400 IM.

The 400 free relay concluded the competition at LSU as Koster added a big finish, setting a pool record with a 43.46 leadoff split to position the Aggies for their final top finish of the day.

Junior Kurtis Mathews, the reigning SEC Male Diver of the Week, again claimed a pair of top finishes after taking first in the 3-meter (404.93) and 1-meter (373.05). Mathews has tallied five first-place finishes this season, recording a top-three score 11 times. After a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter, freshman Victor Povzner turned things around in the 1-meter, using score of 360.75 to finish just behind his teammate in second.

For LSU, Lewis Clough was the only Tiger to claim the gold in an event, as the senior did so in the 100-Yard Butterfly with a time of 48.38. Clough also finished in third place in the 200-Yard Free with a time of 1:37.31. Brooks Curry notched two second place finished as he swam a 20.24 in the 50-Yard Free and a 1:37.31 in the 200-Yard Free. Senior Keagan Finley claimed the silver in two events. He swam a 4:35.11 in the 500-Yard Free to finish second and a 9:29.77 in the 1000-Yard Free. Karl Lut, another senior for the Tigers, also finished second in two events. He touched the wall in 47.49 in the 100-Yard Back and 1:50.95 in the 200-Yard Back.

Also for the men, Luca Pfyffer notched two third place finishes as the junior swam a 56.08 in the 100-Yard Breast and a 2:02.59 in the 200-Yard Breast. Migeuel Velasquez also notched two third place finishes by swimming the 100-Yard Back in 50.28 and the 200-Yard Back in 1:51.91. Ben Hooper finished in second place in the 200-Yard Fly with a time of 1:50.79 and third place in the 100-Yard Fly with a time of 49.39. In the 400-Yard IM, Julian Norman and Isak Vikstrom finished in second and third place with times of 4:07.05 and 4:07.72. Vikstrom also finished in third place in the 500-Yard Free with a time of 4:38.25.

— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Texas A&M Swimming and LSU Swimming. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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