February 14, 2007
The Texas A&M men?â„¢s swimming and diving team kicked off the 2007 Big 12 Championships with a runner-up finish in the 200-yard medley relay in a season-best and NCAA consideration time Wednesday night at the TAMU Student Recreation Natatorium.
After an evening of limited action, the Aggies (66 points) are tied for second with Missouri (66 points), and trail leader Texas (80 points) by 14 points.
The foursome of freshman Israel Duran, junior Alejandro Jacobo, freshman Jason Bergstrom, and senior Francisco Picasso raced to a time of of 1:28.40 with split times of 22.78 (Duran ?- backstroke), 24.31 (Jacobo ?- breaststroke), 21.78 (Bergstrom ?- butterfly), and 19.53 (Picasso ?- freestyle).
?As a group, the guys put that race together pretty well,? said Texas A&M head swimming coach Jay Holmes. ?We had a couple of new guys on that relay and they did a good job at their first conference championship. Israel got us started with a nice backstroke leg and Alejandro was very solid with his breaststroke. Jason Bergstrom really did a nice job in the butterfly and our veteran, Francisco Picasso, had a solid anchor leg.?
In the night?â„¢s only other men?â„¢s race, the Aggie foursome of junior Ryan Latone, Duran, Gregory Widmer and Shawn Clarke placed third in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a season-best time of 6:39.13.