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Aggies Rally Past LSU for First SEC Win
COLLEGE STATION, Texas
--- The Texas A&M men swimming and diving team had to overcome
multiple double-digit deficits to garner its first Southeastern
Conference victory with a hard-fought 158-140 win over LSU on Saturday
at the Student Recreation Natatorium.
"There's a great history
between Texas A&M and LSU - even when I swam here decades ago, it
was great rivalry," said Aggie head coach Jay Holmes, who lettered for
A&M in the early-1980s. "Now that we're in the same conference it
adds even more to it. I know both teams really want to win this meet,
and I'm incredibly proud of the way we battled today."
The
Aggies trailed 133-129 heading into the penultimate race of the day,
the 400 IM, but A&M responded with a 1-2-3 finish from junior Simon
Frank (3:59.33), junior Omar Enriquez (3:59.54) and sophomore Hayden
Duplechain (4:00.74) to grab a 145-136 lead.
"There were huge
point swings, and it seems like we were behind the entire day, which we
probably were," Holmes said. "We were doing just enough to stay in it.
For us to get 1-2-3 in the 400 IM was a great thing for the team, and a
testament to our guys for them to be able to do that. I was hoping that
we could win it, but I surely didn't think we would 1-2-3 them."
With
the outcome still in doubt for the final race of the day, the Aggies
took control early in the 200 free relay and beat LSU by over a second
to assure the team victory. The foursome of junior Kyle Troskot, senior
John Dalton, junior Henrik Lindau and true freshman Cory Bolleter won
the 200 free relay with a time of 1:19.98.
"That's the fastest
unshaved 200 free relay in a very long time, maybe the fastest ever,"
Holmes said. "It was a great swim for this time of the year for them."
Also
playing a huge role in the Aggies' win was a pair of victories by true
freshman Alexandros Theocharidis in the 100 and 200 back. Theocharidis
won the 100 back in 49.64 early in the meet, and then took the 200 back
down the stretch in a time of 1:48.71.
"Alexandros' two wins in
the backstroke were huge for us," Holmes said. "I thought we would win
one of the two backs, but I didn't think there was any way we would win
both. He stepped up for us in a big way and we really needed him to do
that."
Holmes also pointed to the 200 free, the third race of
the day, as a turning point in the dual meet. LSU had won the 200
medley relay and the 1,000 free to open an early 25-11 lead. But senior
John Dalton gave A&M its first win of the day with a time of
1:39.23, and he was trailed by teammates John Wagner, Paul-Marc
Schweitzer and Mateo Muzek as A&M grabbed the top four spots in the
race.
"It was a big momentum swing and it calmed us down,"
Holmes said. "LSU is a good enough team to get away from you. I
challenged our guys before that race to get to the wall first and they
were able to get it done."
Dalton also contributed a win in the
100 free in 44.34, and was touched out by .01 in the 50 free (20.39).
Other Aggies posting individual wins were sophomore Ford McLiney in the
one-meter dive (359.55), Enriquez in 500 free (4:29.07) and Lindau in
the 100 butterfly (48.36).
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