Texas A&M
Big 12 Championships
A&M's Sehn Finishes Third in Platform at Big 12 Championships
Feb 28, 2009 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 28, 2009
Texas A&M senior Eric Sehn fell short in his bid to finish his career undefeated at the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships, but it took a record-setting performance to knock off the 11-time Big 12 Champ.
Texas freshman Drew Livingston broke Sehn's meet record with a score of 542.95 to lap the field. Sehn was third with a season-best 433.85 behind Livingston and runner-up Matt Cooper of Texas (440.40). Sehn had a solid effort with a six-dive series of 75.0, 71.4, 86.4, 74.25, 65.6 and 61.0.
"I'm happy with the list I dove," Sehn said. "433 is a decent score - not great and not bad. My hat's off to Drew (Livingston). I knew he was capable of a score like that. I'm happy for him. When I got to Texas A&M, I told (diving coach) Kevin (Wright) that I wanted to finish my career 12-for-12 at Big 12s. That's a pretty high goal and I wasn't that far off, so I'm proud of the way it's worked out." After the meet, Wright was named Big 12 men's diving coach of the meet.
A&M closed out the conference meet with an impressive showing in the 400 freestyle relay. The Aggie foursome of sophomore Brad Raiford, junior Casey Strange and senior Shawn Clarke grabbed second place with a season-best and NCAA "B" time of 254.58, which is the third-fastest clocking in school history.
The Aggies scored 44 points in the 200-yard backstroke with junior Nikita Denisyako placing fourth in 1:45.46 and junior Jason Bergstrom taking fifth in 1:46.15 in the Championship final. Also adding points were sophomore Andres Van Dam (1:51.79) and senior Kyle Holland (1:55.14).
In the 100 freestyle, the Aggies managed 49 points with Makany placing fourth while cranking out the second-fastest time in school history with a career-best 43.41 and Clarke taking eighth in 44.25 in the Championship final. In the consolation final, Strange turned in a time of 44.25 and Raiford hit the wall in 44.93.
A&M added 34 points in the 1,650-yard freestyle with senior Ryan Loney finishing fifth in a career-best time of 15:47.26 and Van Dam and senior John VanNatta taking placing eighth and ninth.
The Aggies scored 45 points in the 200 breaststroke with sophomore Sean O'Shea took 10th (2:05.43).
A pair of Aggie flyers placed fifth and sixth in the 200 butterfly with sophomore Tyler Welch also turning in a career-best 1:48.14.
In the team standings, the Aggies placed third with 797.5. The Texas Longhorns defended their Big 12 Championship with 1,114 points and Missouri was second with 810.5 points.
