October 18, 2007
The Texas A&M men?™s swimming & diving team will open its 2007-08 season tonight with a dual meet against Missouri at 7:30 p.m. at Gabrielsen Natatorium on the Iowa State University campus in Ames.
The A&M men will also take part in the Big 12 Relays on Friday as they compete against both Missouri and the University of Texas.
Last season, the Aggies won a very tight 151-147 battle with Missouri in Lincoln, Neb., to start off the dual meet year. A&M finished second to Texas, 119-91, in the season-opening Big 12 Relays a day earlier. Missouri was third with 74 points.
The Aggies return Big 12 champions Israel Duran (Tijuana, Mexico) and Alejandro Jacobo (Le?n, Gto., Mexico) from last season?™s team that finished 19th at the NCAA Championships. Duran won the Big 12 200 fly title as a freshman, lowering the A&M school record to 1:44.42. Jacobo, now a senior, won his first-ever Big 12 title last year in the 200-yard breaststroke, setting the school record at 1:58.11.
A&M will be without the services of nine-time Big 12 champion diver Eric Sehn (Edmonton, Alb.) as he spends the year training in Canada for the 2008 Olympics. He will return in 2008-09 when the Aggies host the NCAA Men?™s Swimming & Diving Championships in College Station.
The Aggies do return senior co-captain and All-American Ozzie Gardner (Kearns, Utah) who redshirted last season with an injury. Gardner and sophomore Casey Strange (Houston), the top returning 50-yard freestyler in the Big 12, will bolster the Aggies?™ tradition-rich sprint relays.
The Big 12 Relays are broken up into two sessions. The first is slated to begin at 9 a.m. and the second at approximately 1 p.m.
For those not able to be in attendance, live updates of the Big 12 Relays are scheduled to be available on the Iowa State University athletic website: www.cyclones.com.