Texas A&M downs the Florida Gators

Saturday, November 5

College Station

2:00 PM

Texas A&M

171

124

Florida

Sarah Gibson

Nov 05, 2016 | Women's Swimming and Diving

Full results

By: Peyton James

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 14 Texas A&M women's swimming and diving team moved to 2-0 in Southeastern Conference competition after a 171-124 victory over the No. 18 Florida Gators on Saturday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.

"I thought we had some very solid swims. We are moving toward our invite in two weeks and we had a lot of season best times tonight," head coach Steve Bultman said following the meet. "We had some really good swims Thursday, but some people that swam the same events tonight swam even faster. That is good to see."

The Aggies won 12 out of 16 events while claiming at least the top two spots in eight races and logging more than a dozen NCAA qualifying cuts. Posting multiple wins for Texas A&M was senior Sarah Gibson with a trio of first-place finishes. Clinching single individual victories were senior Ashley McGregor, juniors Bethany Galat, Béryl Gastaldello and Jorie Caneta, sophomore Claire Rasmus and freshmen Katie Portz and Kaley Batten.

A first-team or honorable mention All-American in seven events last year, Gibson, from San Antonio, Texas, continued her dominating senior season with victories in the 1,000-yard freestyle, the 100 butterfly and the 200 butterfly. Gibson won the 1,000 free in 9:49.15, and then posted NCAA "B" cuts of 53.68 in the 100 fly and 1:57.59 in the 200 fly.

The Aggies went 1-2 in the 200 free with Rasmus winning in 1:48.30 followed by junior Kristin Malone in 1:48.71. Caneta led a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 breast in a time of 1:00.79 and junior Franko Jonker right behind in 1:00.94, which were both NCAA "B" cuts. Gastaldello and teammate Raena Eldridge went 1-2 in the 50 free with Gastaldello winning in a "B" cut time of 22.26. The Aggies grabbed the top four spots in the 200 breast with all four swimmers logging "B" cuts, including McGregor's winning time of 2:12.44. Portz led a 1-2 finish in the 500 free with a time of 4:53.34. The Aggies logged another 1-2-3-4 finish in the 200 IM with Bethany Galat (2:00.48) and sophomore transfer Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo (2:01.46) both tallying "B" cuts.

In the diving well, Batten grabbed a first-place finish in the three-meter dive with a score of 292.13 and was second on the one-meter board (256.43)

In their second home meet, the Aggies once again opened and closed the meet with relay victories. The Aggie foursome of junior Lisa Bratton, Caneta, Gastadello and Eldridge touched first in the 200 medley relay in 1:39.49, and the group of Rasmus, Portz, sophomore Natasha Gvakharia and Gastaldello finished first with a time of 3:22.72 in the 400 free relay.