Dec. 4, 2009
The No. 8 Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team will host old Southwest Conference rival Rice in a 1:30 p.m. dual meet on Saturday at the Student Recreation Natatorium. Admission to the event is free.
It will be the Aggies' first home action of the season and their final competition of 2009. After Saturday's dual, the Aggies won't see any action in the pool until a Jan. 9 double dual against traditional swimming powers Auburn and SMU at the Rec.
"Our last competition was two weeks ago and we won't race for another five weeks, so that would have been seven weeks without racing and I think it's important to get up on the blocks and race," Aggie head coach Steve Bultman said. "We rested a bit for the Cougar Classic two weeks ago and now we've gotten back to work. It's important to get a little more racing in before final exams and Christmas break. Our first meet back in January is a biggie."
The Aggies have been impressive so far in this young season with 17 individuals garnering at least one NCAA qualifier. A&M has at least one NCAA "B" cut in every event. The Aggies are 1-1 in dual meets and have posted team victories in the Big 12 Relays and the Cougar Classic Fall Invitational.
"I'm very pleased with where we are as a team right now," Bultman said. "We have at least a B cut in every event and a number of those will be picked up at the national meet. I'm pleased with our training and racing. It will be a little tougher now coming off of Thanksgiving and looking forward to finals. Their minds are filled with a lot of other things, but they have to put that aside, focus and be ready to race."
The action between the Aggies and Owls can be followed via live webcast on AggieAthletics.com.