No. 15 Texas A&M men drop 162-138 decision to No. 10 Auburn

Saturday, October 21

Auburn, Ala.

1 p.m.

Texas A&M

138

162

Auburn

Oct 21, 2017 | Men's Swimming and Diving

Results: TAMU at AUB

By: Brad Marquardt

AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 15 Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team dropped a hard-fought 162-138 decision to No. 10 Auburn on Saturday at the Martin Aquatics Center on the Auburn University campus.

The Aggies won six events, including 1-2-3-4 sweeps of both dives, but fell to 2-1 with the loss.

"It really was a hard-fought meet, but we lost every close race which was frustrating," Aggie head men's coach Jay Holmes said. "If we can learn to find a way to get our hand to the wall first no matter what, that will be the next step in our development as a team. And if we do that, we're going to be really good. We had a bunch of great swims, but we lost way too many close ones."

The Aggies' dive crew was dominant with freshman Kurtis Mathews winning the three-meter dive and junior Sam Thornton emerging victorious in the one-meter. Mathews took the three-meter win with a 386.03 point total and was trailed by Thornton, senior Tyler Henschel and junior Skylar Lake. Thornton won the one-meter with a score of 382.65 with Lake, Henschel and Mathews right behind.

"The divers really kept us in the meet," Holmes said. "They are a very talented group and did a great job stepping up to the challenge. I would put our divers up against anyone's."

Seniors Brock Bonetti and Mauro Castillo swept their specialties with Bonetti winning the 100 and 200 backstroke and Castillo taking the 100 and 200 breaststroke. Bonetti won the 100 back in 47.39 and the 200 back in 1:44.18, while Castillo won the 100 breast in 54.55 and the 200 breast in 1:59.85.

Aggies with runner-up finishes included freshman Felipe Rizzo in the 500 free and 1,000 free, sophomore Ben Walker in the 200 butterfly, sophomore Adam Koster in the 50 and 100 free and Castillo in the 200 IM.

The Aggies opened and closed the meet with runner-up effort in the relays. The 200 medley relay of Bonetti, Castillo, junior Angel Martinez and Koster touched in 1:28.04, while the 400 free relay crew of sophomore Mike Thibert, Koster, junior Connor Long and sophomore Raiz Tjon-A-Joe posted a time of 2:59.64.