March 28, 2009
The Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team couldn't maintain their hold on the top 10, but the Aggies did tally their school-record 14th straight top 25 finish on Saturday at the 2009 NCAA Championships.
Competing in their home pool, the Aggies scored 104 points for a 12th place finish, which is the highest of fifth-year head coach Jay Holmes' career. The Aggies' streak of 14 straight top 25 NCAA finishes is a record for any sport in Texas A&M history. Auburn rallied past Texas on Saturday for the NCAA team title with 526 points to the Longhorns' 487.
The Aggies went into the final day in 10th place with a small lead over Minnesota and Georgia. A&M scored points in platform diving and the 400-yard free relay, but it wasn't enough to hold off the Bulldogs and Golden Gophers, who both leaped the Aggies on Saturday.
"We knew if we were going to make a big move, it would be on Friday and then we would hold on for dear life on Saturday," Holmes said. "We wanted more this weekend. We're thrilled to be in the hunt for a top 10 finish. One of these days we re going to finish in the top 10, and I had hoped it would be this year. I'm so proud of this team. They truly bought into what we're trying to do here, and it showed this weekend."
Senior Eric Sehn finished his illustrious career at Texas A&M by winning the consolation final in the platform dive. Sehn missed out on a spot in the Championship final by a less than a point with a score of 396.25, but outclassed the consolation final with a winning score of 434.85. For the 2009 Championships, Sehn was third in the 1m, sixth in the 3m and ninth in the platform to score 38 points for the Aggies. Sehn reached the Championship final at the NCAA meet nine times in 12 chances and scored a school-record 151 career points at the national meet.
The Aggies closed out the Championships with a 13th place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay in the final event of the night. The foursome of sophomore Casey Strange, senior Brad Raiford and senior Shawn Clarke hit the wall in 2:53.72