Aggie Men Ranked No. 18 by CSCAA

Thursday, November 10

Boston, Mass.

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

Tufts

Nov 10, 2011 | Men's Swimming and Diving

By: Texas A&M Athletics

The Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team was ranked No. 18 in the initial College Swimming Coaches Association of America poll of the 2011-12 season.

With their new ranking, the Aggies opened their road swing through New England with a combined exhibition with Tufts University on Thursday in Boston, Mass. The Aggies and Jumbos mixed competitors from both squads into two teams and engaged in a racing exhibition. The Aggies will continue their road trip with a double dual against Harvard and Fordham at 5 p.m. on Friday and finish with Boston University at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday (all times are central).

Texas A&M has strong group of returnees from last year's squad that finished 13th at the 2011 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. It was the Aggies' 16th straight top 25 finish at the NCAA Championships, including A&M's fourth straight 15 finish.

"It's an honor to be ranked in the first poll of the season," Aggie head coach Jay Holmes said. "With that said, 18th is not where we want to be at the end of the season. It's a long season and we've got our eyes on some big goals, and we're working very hard toward achieving those goals."

The Aggies have 22 returning lettermen, including six of seven point-scorers from last year's NCAA squad - divers Grant Nel and Cam McLean and swimmers Amini Fonua, John Dalton, Henrik Lindau and Kyle Troskot. The Aggies lost just five seniors from last season: Balazs Makany, Nathan Lavery, Bryan Snowden, Andres Van Dam and Jensen Ried.

The Aggies have also received a boost with the healthy return of Boris Loncaric, who missed last season due to an injury. Loncaric is the Aggies' school record holder in the 100-yard butterfly and swam the fly leg on both medley relays.