November 16, 2006
The newly-christened No. 5 Texas A&M women?â„¢s swimming & diving team will play host to the recently-named Art Adamson Invitational at the Student Rec Center Natatorium this weekend.
The invitational was renamed this past season to honor Art Adamson, the longest tenured head coach in Texas A&M athletic history. Adamson coached the swimming program from 1934 until 1969, a reign of 35 years. During that time, he led Texas A&M to three Southwest Conference team championships as well as several swimmers to Olympic berths. More than 25,000 Aggies were taught swimming by Adamson, including several World War II veterans that survived D-Day because of his physical education swim classes.
The Aggies will have plenty of competition to face off against in the three-day spectacle. No. 7 Southern Methodist and No. 10 Michigan come to town as well as Illinois, Louisiana State, the University of the Pacific, and the Houston divers.
A&M, ranked No. 13 at the time, ran away with last year?â„¢s invitational title by a 1,123-891.5 margin over then-No. 8 SMU while No. 15 Michigan came in third with 871 points.
Friday?â„¢s preliminaries are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. with finals slated for 6 p.m. Saturday?â„¢s schedule will remain the same as Friday while Sunday?â„¢s prelims will start at 9:30 a.m. with finals at 4:30 p.m. Admission is free. The 12th Man Team Rewards Program will be there to scan its members at finals sessions only.