The Texas A&M men’s swimming & diving team commence the 2020-2021 season with a two-day, invitation-style meet on October 16 and 17 at the Jamail Texas Swim Center in Austin. The Aggies will race with Texas and SMU in the swimming-only event and team scores will not be tallied.
The Maroon & White closed out the 2019-20 season on a high note, despite the cancellation of NCAA Championships as they matched their best-ever finish at SEC Championships, claiming second as a team. Texas was seeded to win the men’s meet, which would have been their fifth title in six years.
Shaine Casas erased U.S. Olympian Ryan Lochte’s SEC 200 back record with a time of 1:37.20 and received the Commissioners Trophy as a top point scorer of the SEC Championship meet. With the 200 back record in hand, Casas also set a new program mark in the 200 free (1:32.29) and 200 IM (1:39.91) at the meet. The Aggies also return Kurtis Mathews who was awarded SEC Championships Men’s Diver of the Year and also the first Aggie to sweep the springboard events at the SEC Championships.
Mark Theall and Andres Puente return to the pool for the Aggies after standout performances during the 2019-20 season. Theall earned two medals at the SEC Championships, claiming a silver medal in the 500 free with a school-record time of 4:10.77 and bronze in the 200 free with a personal-best time of 1:32.45. Puente had an impressive collegiate debut, capping off the year with a silver-medal finish in the 200 breast (1:52.39), swimming only behind the two-time SEC Champion in the event and A&M graduate Benjamin Walker.
The Aggies return 17 members of last season’s squad after graduating a decorated senior class that was a part of six medal finishes as SEC Championships last year. The Maroon & White added a lot of new faces this season with a large signing class that includes Kraig Bray, Thad Dickerson, Max Hardt, Thomas Shomper, Collin Fuchs, Jerard Jacinto, Carter Nelson, David Oderinde, Vincent Ribiero, Alexander Sanchez and Elijah Sohn, as well as freshman divers Shane Mardick and Kyle Sanchez, and transfer Tony Stewart.
Texas began its 2020-21 season with an intrasquad Orange-White meet. The Longhorns set or tied four meet records in four of the six individual events that took place in their first competition. A top-ranked team heading into NCAAs, Texas picked up its 41st consecutive conference title after claiming the 2020 Big 12 Swimming & Diving Championship. The Longhorns won all 21 events during the 2020 Big 12 Championships. They return NCAA qualifiers Caspar Corbeau, Jake Foster, Alvin Jiang, Austin Katz, Drew Kibler, Daniel Krueger, Johnthomas Larson, Jason Park, Sam Pomajevich, Charlie Scheinfeld, Chris Staka, Braden Vines, Matt Willenbring and Alex Zettle.
SMU finished the 2019-20 season with a third-place finish at the AAC Championships. The Mustangs were led by Caleb Rhodenbaugh in the championship final of the 200 breast with a time of 1:54.63 to become SMU’s second fastest performer all-time in the event. The Mustangs returned Diver and Freshman of the Year Peter Smithson, who closed out the season with his second conference championship of the event.
The meet begins at 5 p.m. CT on Friday, and continues at 11 a.m. Saturday and is not open to the public.
— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Texas A&M Swimming & Diving. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.
Good to see a program with the courage to compete!
Andy Gallion it’s Texas!!!