The Texas A&M men\u2019s and women\u2019s swimming and diving teams traveled to Kentucky for a conference dual meet that resulted in a close battle in the men\u2019s meet. The Aggie men held on to beat Kentucky, 155-145, while the Texas A&M women had no trouble dispatching the Wildcats, 179-121.<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s meet featured two ties for first place including one in the first event, the 200 medley relay. Texas A&M had a big lead after the breaststroke leg, but a 21.88 from Kentucky\u2019s Matt Roman<\/strong> got the Wildcats closer to the lead. Sean Gunn<\/strong> split 19.97 on the freestyle to Texas A&M\u2019s 20.12 from Jacob Gonzales<\/strong>, and the result was matching times of 1:31.08 to give both teams 7.5 points. The Aggies got the advantage with a third-place finish (1:32.28) to get a two-point lead after the first event.<\/p>\n The second tie came in the men\u2019s 50 free, where Gonzales and Gunn had to share the first-place points after both touched in 20.63. Five more points for the Aggies versus one for the Wildcats helped Texas A&M in that event as well.<\/p>\n Texas A&M won seven of the swimming events (including the two ties) and claimed both men\u2019s diving events to help them get the team win. Freshman Sam Thornton<\/strong> was a big contributor for Texas A&M, winning both springboard events by sizeable margins. Brock Bonetti<\/strong> and Mauro Castillo Luna<\/strong> were double winners, with Bonetti winning both backstrokes in times of 48.87 and 1:47.10. For Castillo Luna, he dominated the breaststroke events, winning the 100 by almost two seconds with a 55.64 and the 200 by four seconds with a 2:00.11.<\/p>\n Texas A&M\u2019s other winner was Mateo Gonzalez<\/strong> in the 200 IM. The freshman had a battle with freshman teammate Jose Martinez<\/strong>, with Martinez holding a six tenths lead after breaststroke. Gonzalez stormed through a 25.56 split on freestyle to win with a 1:51.32 to Martinez\u2019s 1:51.34.<\/p>\n After tying with Gonzales in the 50 free, Gunn got the outright win in the 100 free with a 45.08 to Gonzales\u2019 45.40. Other two-time winners for Kentucky were Isaac Jones<\/strong> and Kyle Higgins<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Jones took an early lead in the 200 freestyle and never let it go, posting a 1:38.84 over the 1:39.74 by Texas A&M\u2019s Martinez. Jones was back for the 500 free, and this time he was challenged by freshman teammate Bowen Anderson<\/strong>, who raced stroke for stroke with Jones. A 25.67 in the final 50 yards helped Jones pull away and win with a 4:32.64 to Anderson\u2019s 4:33.28.<\/p>\n Higgins swept the butterfly events for the home crowd, starting with a dominating 1:47.94 in the 200 fly that helped him win by more than two seconds. He had to come from behind to win the 100 fly, as Texas A&M\u2019s Gonzalez went out .13 faster at the halfway point but couldn\u2019t turn it into a win. Higgins got the victory, 48.99 to 49.22.<\/p>\n Drew Aviotti<\/strong> was the other winner for the Kentucky men\u2019s team, taking the 1000 free with a 9:15.72. The Wildcats closed out the meet with a win in the 400 free relay with a 3:02.47, thanks to a disqualification by Texas A&M that resulted in the close score at the end of the meet.<\/p>\n Though the women\u2019s meet was not as close as the men\u2019s meet, some of the times on the scoreboard made it a notable competition. Danielle Galyer<\/strong>, coming off a strong U.S. nationals that included a runner-up finish in the 200 backstroke, won that event with a very fast 1:56.85. It\u2019s not her fastest of the year \u2013 that would be a 1:56.12 from last week \u2013 but it\u2019s still one of the top performances of the season. That win came after a 54.13 in the 100 back, using a very strong final 50 yards to pull away from Texas A&M\u2019s Beryl Gastaldello<\/strong>, who posted a 54.87.<\/p>\nKentucky vs. Texas A&M Women\u2019s Dual<\/h2>\n