A&M's Nel Strikes Gold; Enriquez Breaks Fourth School Record
Feb 26, 2010 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 26, 2010
Texas A&M diver Grant Nel won the Aggies' first individual crown of the meet with a victory in the three-meter springboard on Friday at the 2010 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships.
In the team standings, the Aggies stand second with 572 points behind leader Texas (761 points) and ahead of Missouri (476). The Championships conclude on Saturday with the prelims starting at 10 a.m. and the finals at 6 p.m.
Diving in his home pool, Nel out-dueled Texas All-American Drew Livingston for the victory, 440.53 to 425.00. It was the first Big 12 crown of his career by Nel, who missed last year's Championships and placed second to Livingston on the one-meter board on Wednesday. Senior Henry Stevens placed eighth with 315.80 and sophomore Blake Ferguson took ninth with 249.50.
Freshman Omar Enriquez broke his fourth school record of the season by demolishing A&M's 400 IM record. Enriquez, who previously broke the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 free school marks, took down Scott Mueller's record of 3:51.11 from 2002, which was the oldest mark in the A&M record book. Freshman John Wagner was also in the Championship final and took seventh in 3:57.85.
The Aggies were second in 400 medley relay with the foursome of senior Nikita Denisyako, senior Nathan Lavery, junior Boris Loncaric and junior Balazs Makany finishing in an NCAA “B” cut of 3:10.45.
In the 100 butterfly, Loncaric placed second in one of the most hotly contested races of the day. Loncaric touched in a season-best 46.61, which was just behind Ricky Berens in 46.34. The first-through-fourth place finishers all touched within .33 of each other. Senior Tyler Welch placed seventh in 48.61.
Makany turned in a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:36.56, and freshmen John Dalton, Austin Wilson and John McClure turned in eighth, 10th and 11th place finishes, respectively.
The Aggies scored 64 points with five scorers in the 100 breaststroke. Junior Casey Strange was sixth in 56.65.
In the 100 backstroke, senior Jason Bergstrom grabbed a runner-up finish in 47.46, Denisyako took sixth in 48.09 and sophomore John Ariens placed seventh in 48.76, all NCAA “B” cuts.
