INDIANAPOLIS – Two school records fell and seven Aggies earned honorable mention All-America honors to highlight the Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team's second day at the NCAA Championship on Thursday at the IU Natatorium.
The Aggies scored 23 points on Thursday and were in 17th place in the team standings at the end of the day. Texas was the day two leader with 225.5 points, followed by California (143), Florida (138.5), NC State (123), Indiana (121), Stanford (105), USC (75), Georgia (73), Missouri (71.5) and Auburn (69.5) to round out the top 10. Other SEC teams in the top 25 were South Carolina (12th, 40 points), Alabama (16th, 32), Tennessee (19th, 19) and LSU (22nd, 12).
Scoring individual points for the Aggies were divers Tyler Henschel and Sam Thornton, who earned All-America status in the one-meter springboard dive. Henschel placed 10th with a score of 365.85 points, while Thornton took 11th with a score of 358.40.
"Doing that well against the field of divers they were facing was pretty impressive," Aggie head coach Jay Holmes said. "They scored some valuable points for us and their best boards are still ahead of them so I'm really happy with the way they competed today."
Also shining for the Aggies was the 200-yard freestyle relay, which broke the school record and placed fourth in the consolation final (12th overall). The foursome of senior Cory Bolleter, senior Jacob Gonzales, freshman Adam Koster and senior Turker Ayar finished in a time of 1:17.19, which took down the old mark of 1:17.32 set by Kyle Troskot, Henrik Lindau, Bolleter and Paul-Marc Schweitzer from the 2014 SEC Championships. Also earning honorable mention All-America status for his part in the morning prelims was freshman Raiz Tjon-A-Joe.
"That was a great effort for those guys and I'm proud of them for getting their names on the record wall," Holmes said. "This is such a fast meet and any tiny error is magnified, but they did a great job of competing and getting their hand to the wall."
Another school record fell in the morning prelims when the Aggies lowered their school standard in the 400-yard medley relay. The foursome of junior Brock Bonetti, junior Mauro Castillo, Ayar and Bolleter lowered their own school record to 3:07.16 while just missing out on a trip to the finals by two spots. The old record of 3:07.85 was set by the same four swimmers last month at the SEC Championships.
In other action, Bolleter, the school record holder in the 50 free, tied for 24th in the race with a time of 19.41. Bolleter now owns the three fastest 50 free times by an Aggie at the national meet – 19.39 in 2015, 19.41 in 2017 and 19.44 in 2015 (tie with John Dalton in 2012).
The Aggies scored 23 points on Thursday and were in 17th place in the team standings at the end of the day. Texas was the day two leader with 225.5 points, followed by California (143), Florida (138.5), NC State (123), Indiana (121), Stanford (105), USC (75), Georgia (73), Missouri (71.5) and Auburn (69.5) to round out the top 10. Other SEC teams in the top 25 were South Carolina (12th, 40 points), Alabama (16th, 32), Tennessee (19th, 19) and LSU (22nd, 12).
Scoring individual points for the Aggies were divers Tyler Henschel and Sam Thornton, who earned All-America status in the one-meter springboard dive. Henschel placed 10th with a score of 365.85 points, while Thornton took 11th with a score of 358.40.
"Doing that well against the field of divers they were facing was pretty impressive," Aggie head coach Jay Holmes said. "They scored some valuable points for us and their best boards are still ahead of them so I'm really happy with the way they competed today."
Also shining for the Aggies was the 200-yard freestyle relay, which broke the school record and placed fourth in the consolation final (12th overall). The foursome of senior Cory Bolleter, senior Jacob Gonzales, freshman Adam Koster and senior Turker Ayar finished in a time of 1:17.19, which took down the old mark of 1:17.32 set by Kyle Troskot, Henrik Lindau, Bolleter and Paul-Marc Schweitzer from the 2014 SEC Championships. Also earning honorable mention All-America status for his part in the morning prelims was freshman Raiz Tjon-A-Joe.
"That was a great effort for those guys and I'm proud of them for getting their names on the record wall," Holmes said. "This is such a fast meet and any tiny error is magnified, but they did a great job of competing and getting their hand to the wall."
Another school record fell in the morning prelims when the Aggies lowered their school standard in the 400-yard medley relay. The foursome of junior Brock Bonetti, junior Mauro Castillo, Ayar and Bolleter lowered their own school record to 3:07.16 while just missing out on a trip to the finals by two spots. The old record of 3:07.85 was set by the same four swimmers last month at the SEC Championships.
In other action, Bolleter, the school record holder in the 50 free, tied for 24th in the race with a time of 19.41. Bolleter now owns the three fastest 50 free times by an Aggie at the national meet – 19.39 in 2015, 19.41 in 2017 and 19.44 in 2015 (tie with John Dalton in 2012).