Jan. 22, 2010
The Texas A&M men's and women's swimming and diving teams will face LSU in a 12 noon dual meet on Saturday at the LSU Natatorium. The No. 6 A&M women's team will be looking to improve on its 4-1 dual meet record, while the No. 19 Aggie men bring a 2-1 season mark into the competition.
It will be a homecoming for A&M women's swimming head coach Steve Bultman, who helped restart the swimming program at LSU in the late 1960s as a swimmer and also served two coaching stints at his alma mater.
“It's always fun and special to go back to my roots at LSU,” Bultman said. “There will be some family and old friends at the meet, and it will be good to catch up with them.”
Bultman's team will face a stiff challenge from the No. 24-ranked Tigers.
“We're getting into the final stages of our preparations for Big 12s and nationals,” Bultman said. “LSU has a quality team, and we'll have to be ready to swim against them. We're going to have to make some tough decisions soon with who makes our conference team, so this is a very important competition for all the girls.”
The Aggie women are coming off a double-dual sweep of No. 8 Auburn and No. 18 SMU on Jan. 9. The Aggies won 11 of 16 events against Auburn, and 15 of 16 against SMU. Senior Julia Wilkinson led the way with three individual wins, while senior Alia Atkinson and freshman Emily Neal.
The No. 19 Aggie men will be looking for the upset as they tangle with the No. 17 Tigers, who have won two straight dual meets against the Aggies.
“There are going to be some great races,” sixth-year A&M men's head coach Jay Holmes said. “Historically, we've had some great meets with LSU. It's a natural rivalry for us, and a great opportunity to face a very talented team that we're very familiar with. We're going to line it up, and see what our guys can do.”
In the men's team's most recent action, the Aggies dropped a close decision to fifth-ranked Auburn Tigers on Jan. 9. Against the defending national champions, the Aggies logged four victories --- two by freshman Omar Enriquez, one by sophomore diver Grant Nel and one by junior Balazs Makany.