KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team produced a school record in every race on day four at the 2017 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships on Friday at Jones Aquatic Center on the University of Tennessee campus.
After four days of competition, the Aggies were in fifth place in the team standings behind Florida (929.5), Georgia (788), Auburn (663.5) and Alabama (614). Rounding out the team standings were Tennessee (526.5), Missouri (521), South Carolina (505), LSU (482) and Kentucky (321.5).
Under the direction of Texas A&M coaches Jay Holmes and Jason Calanog, the Aggies shattered school standards in the 200-yard butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 medley relay.
"We had some great fight in us tonight," Holmes said. "We still need to figure out how to be a little better in prelims, but this a typical SEC Championship dogfight and you have to be ready to go. There's a lot of teams battling and fighting for position and there's nothing easy here. I'm proud of the way we are progressing and I believe we have even greater things in our future."
Sophomore Angel Martinez took down the first school record of the day while winning the B final of the 200 fly in a time of 1:43.25, which eclipsed the oldest record in the Aggies' record book. Martinez's quick swim broke the old record of 1:43.98 by Israel Duran from the 2008 NCAA Championships in Federal Way, Wash.
Junior Brock Bonetti continued the record-breaking streak by lowering his own school record in the 100 backstroke twice on Friday. Bonetti broke it the first time while placing fifth in the A final of the 100 back in 46.21 and then broke it again on the opening leg of the Aggies' 400 medley relay in 46.07. Also contributing points in the 100 back for the Aggies was freshman Anthony Kim, who placed 16th in 47.54 after producing a lifetime best of 47.10 in the prelims (No. 5 in school history).
Junior Mauro Castillo lowered his own school record in the 100 breaststroke while winning the B final in a time of 52.63. Junior teammate Jonathan Tybur chipped in a 16th place finish in 53.71 after producing a lifetime best of 53.30 in the morning prelims. Tybur now ranks as the second-fastest 100-yard breaststroker in school history.
The Aggies closed out the day with a sixth-place finish in the 400 medley relay with the foursome of Bonetti, Castillo, senior Turker Ayar and senior Cory Bolleter touching in 3:07.85, which broke the old mark of 3:08.03 set by Jason Bergstrom, Nathan Lavery, Boris Loncaric and Casey Strange at the 2009 NCAA Championships.
After four days of competition, the Aggies were in fifth place in the team standings behind Florida (929.5), Georgia (788), Auburn (663.5) and Alabama (614). Rounding out the team standings were Tennessee (526.5), Missouri (521), South Carolina (505), LSU (482) and Kentucky (321.5).
Under the direction of Texas A&M coaches Jay Holmes and Jason Calanog, the Aggies shattered school standards in the 200-yard butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 medley relay.
"We had some great fight in us tonight," Holmes said. "We still need to figure out how to be a little better in prelims, but this a typical SEC Championship dogfight and you have to be ready to go. There's a lot of teams battling and fighting for position and there's nothing easy here. I'm proud of the way we are progressing and I believe we have even greater things in our future."
Sophomore Angel Martinez took down the first school record of the day while winning the B final of the 200 fly in a time of 1:43.25, which eclipsed the oldest record in the Aggies' record book. Martinez's quick swim broke the old record of 1:43.98 by Israel Duran from the 2008 NCAA Championships in Federal Way, Wash.
Junior Brock Bonetti continued the record-breaking streak by lowering his own school record in the 100 backstroke twice on Friday. Bonetti broke it the first time while placing fifth in the A final of the 100 back in 46.21 and then broke it again on the opening leg of the Aggies' 400 medley relay in 46.07. Also contributing points in the 100 back for the Aggies was freshman Anthony Kim, who placed 16th in 47.54 after producing a lifetime best of 47.10 in the prelims (No. 5 in school history).
Junior Mauro Castillo lowered his own school record in the 100 breaststroke while winning the B final in a time of 52.63. Junior teammate Jonathan Tybur chipped in a 16th place finish in 53.71 after producing a lifetime best of 53.30 in the morning prelims. Tybur now ranks as the second-fastest 100-yard breaststroker in school history.
The Aggies closed out the day with a sixth-place finish in the 400 medley relay with the foursome of Bonetti, Castillo, senior Turker Ayar and senior Cory Bolleter touching in 3:07.85, which broke the old mark of 3:08.03 set by Jason Bergstrom, Nathan Lavery, Boris Loncaric and Casey Strange at the 2009 NCAA Championships.