Texas A&M drops narrow decision to defending SEC Champion Florida Gators

Saturday, November 5

College Station

2:00 PM

Texas A&M

141

159

Florida

Nov 05, 2016 | Men's Swimming and Diving

Full results

By: Peyton James

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team dropped a narrow 159-141 decision to the defending Southeastern Conference Champion and No. 8-ranked Florida Gators on Saturday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.

"You hope to put your guys into some competitive situations and that is what dual meets do. We knew coming in that it was Florida and we know who they are. I thought that our guys did a great job competing with them," Aggie head coach Jay Holmes said. "The score could have been a little different, but it came down to a race. Opening up with the 200 medley relay win was huge. As soon as that happened, I knew that we had a shot to make this really interesting. It was a good meet. All of this is just getting us ready for the SEC Championships, which is where we need to be our best and qualify for the NCAA meet."

Texas A&M claimed victories in six races, including the 200-yard medley relay to open the meet. The foursome of junior Brock Bonetti, junior Mauro Castillo, sophomore Mateo Gonzalez and senior Jacob Gonzales rallied past the Gators for a winning time of 1:28.00. Trailing by nearly a half-second after backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly legs, Gonzales' quick 19.77 freestyle split gave the Aggies the victory by .04.

Grabbing multiple individual victories on the day for the Aggies were Castillo and Bonetti, who both swept their specialties – the breaststroke and the backstroke while logging NCAA "B" qualifying cuts. Castillo won the 100 breast in 54.18 and the 200 breast in 1:57.53, while Bonetti finished first in the 100 back in 48.02 and the 200 back in 1:44.62.

Earning an individual victory, senior Turker Ayar swam an impressive 48.33 to clinch first place in the 100 fly and also placed second in the 200 fly (1:49.58).

Aggies grabbing runner-up finishes were sophomore Angel Martinez in the 200 free (1:40.19), Gonzales in the 50 free (20.29), sophomore Ben Walker in the 200 breast (2:01.41) and freshman Adam Koster in the 100 free (45.12).

The diving team scored high for the Aggies with a 1-2-3 finish in the one-meter dive. Junior Tyler Henschel topped the leader board with a 390.00 dive. Henschel was followed by sophomores Sam Thornton and Skylar Lake. On the three-meter board, Henschel took second with a score of 360.98, while Lake was third with 332.40.

The Aggies closed the meet with a runner-up finish in the 400 free relay with the foursome of Gonzales, Koster, Ayar and junior Justin Morey touching in a time of 3:00.74.