Texas A&M men grab top 20 finish at NCAA Swimming & Diving

INDIANAPOLIS – The Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team earned its first top 20 national finish since 2012 with a 16th-place effort at the 2017 NCAA Championship that concluded on Saturday at the IU Natatorium on the IUPUI campus.

Texas A&M scored 87 points and generated five school records and nine All-America finishes over the four days of competition. It was the 10^th time that the Aggies have finished in the top 25 at the NCAA Championships under 13-year head coach Jay Holmes.

"It's been a long, hard road getting back into the top 20," Holmes said. "Top 20 finishes used to be pretty common for us but it got away from us for whatever reason. This staff has worked very hard to get back in the game as far as being competitive and relevant. The great part about this finish is that all of the individual points that we scored are returning next year, which makes me really excited for what is to happen in the future. This group of guys got us back on the right track."

Junior Mauro Castillo Luna had a banner day on Saturday as he lowered his own school record in the 200-yard breaststroke for the seventh time in his career and placed third with a time of 1:52.09 for the highest NCAA finish by an Aggie swimmer since 2000. Castillo Luna earned the No. 3 seed with a school record time of 1:52.01 in the morning prelims.

"Mauro had an awesome swim – it wasn't his prettiest swim but he's a racer and he did whatever it took to get his hand to the wall," Holmes said. "He did a great job of stepping up and racing. It's the highest individual finish (by a swimmer) since 2000 so that says a lot about Mauro and what a racer he is."

Castillo Luna was fifth after the first 100 yards, but rallied past two swimmer to grab the highest NCAA finish by an Aggie swimmer since Riley Janes placed second in the 100 backstroke at the 2000 NCAA Championships. It was the first time an Aggie swimmer had finished in the top eight at nationals (to earn first-team All-America honors) since Boris Loncaric placed seventh in the 100 butterfly in 2009.

Also earning first-team All-America honors on Saturday was diver Tyler Henschel, who placed fifth in the platform dive with a 437.35 point total. Henschel's solid list in the final included an 85.10 score on his third dive and three other 70-plus scores. Henschel's fifth-place effort was the highest NCAA finish by an Aggie diver since Grant Nel was fifth in the three-meter dive in 2012 and he became the first Aggie to score in three individual events at the national meet since Nel at the 2011 NCAA Championships.

"Tyler was great for us tonight with a top eight finish in the platform, but he was awesome for us through the entire meet," Holmes said. "He's a great competitor and he was going toe to toe against a very, very strong field of divers every night. We have a great history of diving at Texas A&M, and Tyler fits right in there with the best we've ever had."

Rounding out the Texas A&M point-scorers on the final day was junior Jonathan Tybur, who placed 16^th in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 1:55.63. In the morning prelims, Tybur posted a lifetime best of 1:53.76.

The Aggies just missed qualifying for the 400-yard freestyle relay final despite a school record time of 2:52.01 by senior Cory Bolleter, freshman Adam Koster, senior Jacob Gonzales and senior Turker Ayar.

Texas won the team crown with 542 points, followed by California (349), Florida (295.5), NC State (272.5), Stanford (242), USC (237), Indiana (229.5), Georgia (183), Missouri (179.5) and Alabama (153.5) to round out the top 10 teams. Other Southeastern Conference schools in the top 25 were No. 12 Auburn (127.5), No. 15 South Carolina (99) and No. 20 Tennessee (55).

First-team All-Americans
Mauro Castillo – 200 breaststroke
Tyler Henschel – Platform dive

Honorable mention All-Americans
Mauro Castillo – 100 breaststroke
Jonathan Tybur – 200 breaststroke
Tyler Henschel – 1m and 3m dive
Brock Bonetti – 100 backstroke
Sam Thornton – 1m dive
200 free relay (Cory Bolleter, Jacob Gonzales, Adam Koster, Turker Ayar [Raiz Tjon-A-Joe, alt.])
200 medley relay (Brock Bonetti, Mauro Castillo, Turker Ayar, Cory Bolleter)

School Records
Mauro Castillo – 100 breast (twice), 200 breast
Brock Bonetti – 100 back
200 free relay (Cory Bolleter, Jacob Gonzales, Adam Koster, Turker Ayar)
400 medley relay – (Bonetti, Castillo, Ayar, Bolleter)
400 free relay (Bolleter, Koster, Gonzales, Ayar)

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Cory Bolleter

Brock Bonetti

Mauro Castillo

Jacob Gonzales

Tyler Henschel

Adam Koster

Sam Thornton

Jonathan Tybur

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