Texas A&M
Big 12 Championships
Aggie Men Take Second at Big 12 Meet; Nel Shares Diver of the Meet Award
Feb 27, 2010 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 27, 2010
The Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team took runner-up honors at the 2010 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.
The Aggies scored 626 points to finish second behind team champion Texas, who won with 1,086 points. Missouri took third with 740 points.
Aggie sophomore Eric Sehn did the previous year. Nel placed fourth on the platform on Saturday with a score of 298.30, and also posted a win on the three-meter board and a runner-up finish on the one-meter board. Nel's 52 points in the three events was the most by any diver in the meet. Also scoring in the platform dive on Saturday was senior Henry Stevens, who placed fifth with a score of 264.45.
Also receiving meet awards were Jay Holmes, who was named the Swim Coach of the Meet, and Jay Lerew, who was named the Dive Coach of the Meet. A pair of individuals and a relay team did some revisions to the A&M record book on Saturday.
Freshman Omar Enriquez, who had already set or lowered two other school records earlier in the meet, demolished his own 1,650-yard freestyle school standard with a time of 15:08.45 while placing second to Texas All-American Jackson Wilcox. While swimming the mile, he also lowered his 1,000 free record to 9:06.93. Prior to Enriquez's arrival on campus this year, the 1,650 free record of 15:20.01 had stood for 13 years. A&M also received lifetime best efforts from junior Jensen Ried (6th, 15:52.28) and freshman John McClure (7th, 16:03.88).
Junior Alejandro Jacobo while winning the Big 12 title in 2008. Snowden glided to a time of 1:57.16 and placed third in the event. Earlier in the day, Snowden matched Jacobo's old record of 1:57.84 in the prelims. The Aggies scored 52 points in the race with sophomore Amini Fonua taking fifth (1:59.70), junior Nathan Lavery placing sixth (1:59.81) and freshman John Wagner winning the consolation final (2:03.81).
Senior Tyler Welch was the Aggies' lone scorer in the 200 butterfly with a third place finish in a time of 1:48.48.
The Aggies put a scare in the Longhorns in the 400 free relay, leading by .43 of a second after three legs but couldn't hold off Texas down the stretch. The A&M foursome of junior Casey Strange, freshman John Dalton and junior Boris Loncaric touched the wall in school record time of 2:53.03, but were edged out by Texas in 2:52.77.
Aggies in the Big 12 Championships Awards
Men's Outstanding Diver of the Meet: Tie – Grant Nel, Texas A&M and Drew Livingston, Texas
Men's Dive Coach of the Meet: Tie: Jay Lerew, Texas A&M and Matt Scoggins, Texas
Men's Swim Coach of the Meet: Jay Holmes
Players Mentioned
