Jan. 8, 2010
The No. 22-ranked Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team will host its first home competition of the 2009-10 season when the Aggies take on defending NCAA Champion and fifth-ranked Auburn in an 11:30 a.m. dual meet on Saturday at the TAMU Student Recreation Natatorium.
The last time the Aggies saw action in their home pool was at the 2009 NCAA Championships when Auburn team and staff were taking the traditional celebratory plunge after winning their eighth NCAA team crown in College Station. A&M placed 12th at the 2009 NCAA meet, which marked the Aggies' 14th straight top 25 NCAA finish.
“I think about Auburn every day when I look up at our record board and see their names on four of our five pool relay records,” Aggie head coach Jay Holmes said. “They have a great tradition, and present a great challenge for our team."
The Aggies (2-0 in dual meets) last saw action in a New England sweep of Harvard and Boston University in mid-November. Auburn (3-1) is coming off a 130.5-110.5 loss to top-ranked Texas in Austin on Thursday.
“We're anxious to step up on the blocks and race, especially against a team the caliber of Auburn,” Holmes said. “We know we'll have our work cut out for us, but we're excited to be swimming against someone besides ourselves.”
Saturday's double dual will also mark the debut of new Aggie diving coach Jay Lerew, who took over the reins of the A&M diving program last month. The U.S. Olympic diving coach in 2000, Lerew came to A&M after a long and successful stint with Team Orlando Diving.
“I like what I'm seeing from the divers,” Lerew said. “We have a lot of good talent. They had a break in their training during the fall, but (interim coach) Kenny Armstrong did a great job of keeping their skills up. Now they're back in the grind. I'm getting them in the stretch run of the season so we need to put this together quickly. This weekend will show us where we're at in our training.”
Lerew last coached in the college ranks at his alma mater Colorado State from 1979-81. He was the head coach at Team Orlando in Orlando, Fla., for the past 11 years and at Moss Farm Diving in Moultrie, Ga., from 1981-89.
“I've been out of the college ranks, but I've been coaching a lot of college age kids so I'm used to this age,” Lerew said. “ (Longtime A&M diving coach) Kevin Wright did a great job of recruiting. There's a lot of good, young talent on the team and several of them compete for their respective national teams. Being an age group coach for the last 30 years or so, coming back to the college ranks has been a breath of fresh air. It's a great facility and a great staff, which is rare. It's the whole package. I love the school spirit and camaraderie, and I'm extremely excited to get started.
The meet will be live-streamed on Aggieathletics.com, and admission is free.