Jan. 8, 2010
The No. 6-ranked Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team will return to action for the first time since early December when the Aggies host No. 8 Auburn and No. 19 SMU in dual meets at 11:30 on Saturday at the TAMU Student Recreation Natatorium.
The Aggies (2-1 in dual meets) last saw action in a 151-103 win over Rice on Dec. 5, and will have to hit the ground running against traditional swimming and diving powers Auburn (2-2) and SMU (1-1). The Tigers are coming off a 134-107 loss to No. 4 Texas in Austin on Thursday, while the Mustangs fell to top-ranked Georgia, 165-114, in Athens, Ga., in their most recent action on Tuesday.
“We come right back from the holidays and have to be ready to face two of the best teams in nation,” A&M head swimming coach Steve Bultman said. “I think that's good. It certainly has the girls' attention. It helped them be more diligent in their training and gave them a goal to work toward. They knew they had a big meet coming up and they had to be ready.”
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 comes 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.