Texas A&M
Auburn
Aggie Men Fall to Defending NCAA Champ Auburn
Jan 09, 2010 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Jan. 9, 2010
Results
The No. 22 Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team dropped a 159-136 dual meet decision to the defending NCAA Champion Auburn Tigers on Saturday at the TAMU Student Recreation Natatorium.
"We do so much stuff in workouts and we do some much volume in training, and this is the fun stuff, the racing," Aggie head swimming coach Jay Holmes said. "We had the opportunity to swim against a great program, the defending NCAA Champions. We challenged our guys and said this is an opportunity, don't let this pass. We had some really, really good swims, and some places where we need to get better. I thought our guys got up and fought well. We had some times that I was real pleased with. We have LSU in two weeks and we know the things we need to get better on."
The Aggies scored four first-place finishes against the fifth-ranked Tigers, which included a breakout two-victory performance from true freshman Omar Enriquez. The Aggies also received victories from junior Balazs Makany and sophomore diver Grant Nel.
Enriquez was dominant in the 1,650 freestyle, as he flirted with the 1,000-yard record and the 1,650 record in a winning time of 15:33.84. He then rallied to a victory in the 200 butterfly by covering the final 50 yards in 28.47 for a winning time of 1:50.56. The freshman also turned in a second-place finish in the 500 free in 4:29.92.
"When we recruited Omar we thought he was going to be this way, but you never know until they get here how they're going to fit into your program," Holmes said. "I never have to worry about his effort level. He comes into our practices and he wins things in our practices all the time. He doesn't slack off. He doesn't try to save for the next one, it's pretty much all out. They are some detail things that he doesn't do well, and that's what we're working on with him. He loves to race. That's the great part of Omar."
Makany took gold in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:38.69 and also had a runner-up finish in the 100 free in 44.94.
Nel was impressive in the diving well with his victory in the 3m springboard with a score of 428.40 and a runner-up finish on the 1m board with a score of 299.93. His victory in the 3m was particularly impressive because he defeated Auburn's Kelly Marx, who was the NCAA runner-up last season on the 3m, in the process.
The Aggies also received runner-up finishes from senior Nikita Denisyako in the 200 IM (1:52.53) and 200 back (1:49.30), junior Jason Bergstrom in the 100 back (49.55).
