January 26, 2007
The No. 24 Texas A&M men?â„¢s swimming and diving team was downed 143-98 by the No. 25 SMU Mustangs in dual meet action Friday night at the TAMU Student Recreation Natatorium.
The A&M swimmers won a pair of races in the pool and junior diver Eric Sehn swept both dives to pace the Aggies.
?Our guys did some good things, but it doesn?â„¢t feel good to not win in your own pool,? Aggie head swimming coach Jay Holmes said. ?You have to give a lot of credit to SMU. They swam great and they?â„¢ve got a very talented team. For them to not be ranked until this week is just wrong. We?â„¢re not happy with the result, and our job is to get better.?
Sehn, already a six-time Big 12 Champion, looked primed to defend his conference crowns with a pair of strong efforts. He shattered the school record and eclipsed the 400-point barrier with a 405.15 score on the one-meter springboard and scored 363.54 on the three-meter board.
?I was really happy with the way I competed tonight,? Sehn said. ?I had been in a little bit of a slump. Against LSU we even took some of the harder dives off my list. I guess my taper is going well because I really felt comfortable out there. This type of performance gives me good perspective with the conference meet coming up.?
Sehn?â„¢s teammates, true freshmen Matt Platt and Henry Stevens, also contributed with Platt and Stevens grabbing second and third, respectively, on the three-meter and third and fourth on the one-meter.
True freshman Israel Duran Mata continued his strong first season with a win in the 200-yard butterfly in a career-best and NCAA consideration time of 1:47.49. The time ranks No. 4 on A&M?â„¢s all-time 200-yard butterfly list. Duran Mata also placed third in the 200 I.M. with a time of 1:50.81 and swam the fly leg on the Aggies?â„¢ second-place 400 medley relay.
Also grabbing gold for the Aggies on Friday was junior Alejandro Jacobo, who placed first in the 200 breast with a season-best time of 2:02.05. Jacobo swam the breaststroke leg on the 400 medley relay.
The road doesn?â„¢t get any easier for the Aggies who travel to Austin on Saturday to face the top-ranked Texas Longhorns in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown at 2 p.m.