Feb. 6, 2009
COLLEGE STATION - The eighth-ranked Texas A&M women's swimming & diving team will close its regular season schedule with a double dual meet against #6 Auburn and Florida State on Saturday at 11 a.m. Eastern in Tallahassee, Fla.
The Aggies (8-1) were off last weekend for the first time in 2009 after hosting both No. 3 Texas and LSU on successive days on Jan. 23-24. A&M fell to the Longhorns, 169-131, but rebounded quickly to ease past the Bayou Bengals, 182-110.
With the win over LSU, the Aggies achieved the eight-win plateau for the 10th time in head coach Steve Bultman's 10-year reign at the helm of the A&M program. Prior to Bultman arriving, A&M had only won eight dual meets in a season one time in the history of the program.
With at least one win on Saturday, the Aggies will hit the nine-win mark for the sixth straight season. Prior to 2003-04, A&M had never won nine dual meets in a season. With two victories, the Aggies will tie the school record for wins in a season set by the 2003-04 (10-1) and 2005-06 squads (10-3).
Saturday's meet will also close the chapter on A&M's winningest decade in program history. The Aggies have posted a sparkling record of 87-21 (.806) this decade, all under Bultman. A&M's next best decade, the 1990's, saw the Aggies compile a record of 54-40-1 (.568) under former head coaches Mel Nash and Don Wagner.
Sixth-ranked Auburn has been led primarily by the most successful women's swimming coach in NCAA history, Richard Quick. The six-time U.S. Olympic coach guided his Stanford and Texas teams to 12 of the 27 total NCAA Championship titles that have been awarded. No other current college coach has won more than four NCAA titles.
The Tigers do enter the second half of their season with heavy hearts though as Quick, 65, has been recently diagnosed with an inoperable cancerous brain tumor. Quick spent a significant amount of his life in the Lone Star state, having graduated from SMU in 1965 and later coached high school swimming in Houston until 1971. Quick also started the SMU women's program in 1976 and coached at the University of Texas for much of the 1980's, leading them to a then-record five straight NCAA titles.
Quick's current squad has raced a tough schedule, dropping three meets to teams all ranked in the top five in the coaches poll (No. 1 Georgia, No. 3 Texas, and No. 5 Florida). Auburn fell to the Longhorns, the Aggies' and Tigers' one common opponent, 129-109, at home on Jan. 8.
The Aggies and Tigers have met in a dual meet only once before. The then-top ranked Tiger squad squeezed past A&M, 155-139, in College Station on Jan. 12, 2008, giving the Aggies' their first dual meet loss in two years.
Host Florida State (7-6) is looking to break a five-meet losing streak against the Aggies and Tigers. FSU is coming off a 151-149 heartbreaker at home to Clemson three weeks ago. The two teams have one common opponent this season in LSU. The Aggies tamed the Tigers, 182-110, two weeks ago while the Seminoles dropped a 166-134 decision in Baton Rouge on Jan. 10.
A&M and Florida State have also only met one time before in a dual meet. The Aggies grabbed a 123-120 win in Tallahassee on Jan. 15, 1994.