COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M men's swimming and diving team broke a pair of school records and swept all five races on the first day of the Art Adamson Invitational on Wednesday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.
Breaking school records were the 200-yard free relay of freshman Shaine Casas, junior Adam Koster, freshman Clayton Bobo and junior Mike Thibert, and sophomore Felipe Rizzo in the 500 freestyle. Texas A&M leads the team race with 503 points, followed by LSU (197), Hawaii (159), Air Force (114), Incarnate Word (61) and SMU (50).
Head coach Jay Holmes said:
"It was a great start to our meet. This is a meet we often point to for the fall. There's a lot of teams that come in and see us, and we sure like racing against them. We really got started right in the 200 free relay, and we also got a bunch of NCAA cuts and broke some school records. I couldn't be more proud of the way we raced today."
200 Freestyle Relay
The Aggie foursome of freshman Shaine Casas, junior Adam Koster, freshman Clayton Bobo and junior Mike Thibert were victorious in the 200-yard freestyle relay while shattering the school record of 1:16.81. It marked the first time that a Texas A&M relay had broken the 1:17 barrier and took down of the old standard of 1:17.19 set by Cory Bolleter, Jacob Gonzales, Koster and Turker Ayar at the 2017 NCAA Championships.
500 Freestyle
Sophomore Felipe Rizzo won the 500 freestyle in school record fashion and keyed an Aggie sweep of the top five spots in the Championship final. Rizzo was victorious in 4:20.26, which bettered the old mark of 4:20.66 by Omar Enriquez in 2010. Rizzo was trailed by freshman Mark Theall (4:20.30), freshman Luke Stuart (4:21.68), freshman Mark Schnippenkoetter (4:21.82) and junior Jake Gibbons (4:23.86). The top four Aggies all tallied NCAA "B" cuts in the race.
200 IM
Casas flirted with the 200 IM school record while leading an Aggie sweep of the top five spots in the Championship final. The freshman from McAllen, Texas turned in a time of 1:43.06, behind only Brock Bonetti's school record of 1:42.32, for the win and was trailed by senior Angel Martinez (1:44.79), junior Ben Walker (1:45.44), freshman Coco Bratanov (1:46.14) and freshman Alberto Gomez (1:46.48). All five Aggies tallied NCAA "B" cuts.
50 Freestyle
Texas A&M swept the top three spots in the 50 free with a trio of sub-20-second clockings. Koster grabbed the win in a time of 19.69, holding off freshman Clayton Bobo by .03 of a second (19.72). Thibert took the bronze in a time of 19.76.
400 Medley Relay
The Aggies closed out the night with a dominating win in the 400-yard medley relay. The foursome of Casas, Walker, Martinez and Koster held a four-second advantage over the runner-ups with a winning time of 3:05.70, which makes them the second-fastest relay in school history.
Breaking school records were the 200-yard free relay of freshman Shaine Casas, junior Adam Koster, freshman Clayton Bobo and junior Mike Thibert, and sophomore Felipe Rizzo in the 500 freestyle. Texas A&M leads the team race with 503 points, followed by LSU (197), Hawaii (159), Air Force (114), Incarnate Word (61) and SMU (50).
Head coach Jay Holmes said:
"It was a great start to our meet. This is a meet we often point to for the fall. There's a lot of teams that come in and see us, and we sure like racing against them. We really got started right in the 200 free relay, and we also got a bunch of NCAA cuts and broke some school records. I couldn't be more proud of the way we raced today."
200 Freestyle Relay
The Aggie foursome of freshman Shaine Casas, junior Adam Koster, freshman Clayton Bobo and junior Mike Thibert were victorious in the 200-yard freestyle relay while shattering the school record of 1:16.81. It marked the first time that a Texas A&M relay had broken the 1:17 barrier and took down of the old standard of 1:17.19 set by Cory Bolleter, Jacob Gonzales, Koster and Turker Ayar at the 2017 NCAA Championships.
500 Freestyle
Sophomore Felipe Rizzo won the 500 freestyle in school record fashion and keyed an Aggie sweep of the top five spots in the Championship final. Rizzo was victorious in 4:20.26, which bettered the old mark of 4:20.66 by Omar Enriquez in 2010. Rizzo was trailed by freshman Mark Theall (4:20.30), freshman Luke Stuart (4:21.68), freshman Mark Schnippenkoetter (4:21.82) and junior Jake Gibbons (4:23.86). The top four Aggies all tallied NCAA "B" cuts in the race.
200 IM
Casas flirted with the 200 IM school record while leading an Aggie sweep of the top five spots in the Championship final. The freshman from McAllen, Texas turned in a time of 1:43.06, behind only Brock Bonetti's school record of 1:42.32, for the win and was trailed by senior Angel Martinez (1:44.79), junior Ben Walker (1:45.44), freshman Coco Bratanov (1:46.14) and freshman Alberto Gomez (1:46.48). All five Aggies tallied NCAA "B" cuts.
50 Freestyle
Texas A&M swept the top three spots in the 50 free with a trio of sub-20-second clockings. Koster grabbed the win in a time of 19.69, holding off freshman Clayton Bobo by .03 of a second (19.72). Thibert took the bronze in a time of 19.76.
400 Medley Relay
The Aggies closed out the night with a dominating win in the 400-yard medley relay. The foursome of Casas, Walker, Martinez and Koster held a four-second advantage over the runner-ups with a winning time of 3:05.70, which makes them the second-fastest relay in school history.