Texas A&M
SMU
Final Relay Victory Spurs Aggies to 119-118 Win Over Rival SMU
Jan 29, 2010 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Jan. 29, 2010
With the No. 19 Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team needing a first- and third-place finish in the final race of the night, the Aggies delivered exactly that in the 400-yard freestyle relay for a heart-pumping 119-118 win over No. 23 SMU at the Perkins Natatorium on the SMU campus.
The foursome of junior Casey Strange and junior Sean Duckworth, freshmen Randal Smith and senior Jason Bergstrom grabbed the winning points in third in a time of 305.17.
"That was a great ending to a great college swim meet," Aggie head coach Jay Holmes said. "We talked all week about how we expected it to come down to the final relay, and I'm so proud of the guys from being prepared and rising to the challenge."
Texas A&M's "AGGIE RELAY" tradition paid off with a dual meet victory over the Mustangs, which snapped a four-meet losing streak to the Ponies and was made even sweeter since it was in SMU's home pool. The point lead changed hands five times during the 13-event short list dual meet.
"I've been here a long time and I know the tradition between these two teams," Holmes said. "SMU is a great swim program with a national reputation. I think that when these two teams compete, it brings out the best in both teams. We needed a tremendous effort, and that's exactly what we got from the guys."
The Aggies opened the meet with a strong victory in the 400-yard medley relay with the foursome of senior Nikita Denisyako, sophomore Amini Fonua, Loncaric and Makany hitting the wall first in 3:19.06. A sizzling butterfly leg by school record holder and All-American Loncaric made up a small deficit and gave Makany a lead to protect.
A&M padded their lead with a win by freshman sensation Omar Enriquez in the 1,000 freestyle, which he set the school record in last week. Enriquez didn't flirt with the school record this week, but he quickly opened up a half-pool margin and then cruised to victory in a time of 9:26.12. Junior Jensen Ried made a run at second place but ended up with a third place finish in 9:30.7.
In the 200 freestyle, the Aggies had a 2-3 finish with Dalton taking second in 1:41.27 and Enriquez returning to the pool for back-to-back races for a third place finish in 1:41.39.
Strange added to the Aggies' win total with a victory in his specialty, the 50 freestyle. Strange used his trademark finish to edge SMU's Thomas Fadnes by .13 with a time of 20.68. In the 200 IM, Denisyako had an early lead through the backstroke leg, but faded to third place in 1:52.51.
Senior captain Henry Stevens took second place on the one-meter board with a score of 292.80. The Aggies were down to just one diver after sophomore transfer Blake Ferguson took a nasty spill and could not finish. All-Americans Grant Nel and Cam McLean didn't make the trip while competing for their home countries in international competition.
After the dive break, Loncaric, an All-American in the 100 butterfly, surged to a body length lead in the 200 fly but couldn't hold the lead in the final 25 and finished second in 1:49.92.
The Aggies went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle with Makany taking first in 45.18 and Strange charging down the stretch to grab second by .01 in 45.18.
A&M placed 2-3-4 in the 200 backstroke with Denisyako finishing second in 1:47.09, senior Jason Bergstrom taking third in 1:50.84 and sophomore transfer John Ariens placing fourth in 1:52.64. Denisyako was tracking winner Pontus Renholm over the final 100 yards, but couldn't catch the Mustang.
Enriquez added to his win total in the 500 freestyle with another dominating victory. Enriquez opened another big lead and never looked back on his way to a winning time of 4:30.08. On the three-meter board, Stevens again took second place with 317.77.
The Aggie breaststrokers set up the relay heroics in the second-to-last race with a 2-4-5 finish. Junior Bryan Snowden took second in 2:02.01, senior Nathan Lavery took fourth and Fonua grabbed fifth.
Players Mentioned
