No. 11 Men’s Swim & Dive Upsets No. 5 Ohio State In Exciting Finish

Friday, October 18

College Station

Texas A&M

153

147

Ohio State

Photo by: Justin Casterline

Oct 19, 2019 | Men's Swimming and Diving

By: Kyle Kirkland, Texas A&M Athletics Communications

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 11 Texas A&M Aggies men's swimming & diving team upset the No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes in a down-to-the-wire 153-147 finish at the Rec Center Natatorium.

The Maroon & White started with a 12-7 lead supplied by the divers' performances on Friday, and held the slight edge until the 200 fly went Ohio State's way. After the 1-meter dive the Buckeyes occupied a 23-point advantage over the Aggies, but a clutch 1-2 finish in the 200 breast and the 200 IM by Benjamin Walker and Andres Puente swung the point advantage back to Texas A&M. The final event, the 400 free relay secured the victory after a disqualification was handed to the Ohio State group that finished first.

Shaine Casas placed first in every event he participated in, including the 200 medley relay (1:27.37), 100 back (48.04), 200 back (1:44.78) and 100 fly (47.73). Walker also placed first in each of his four events, 200 medley relay, 100 breast (54.93), 200 breast (1:57.79) and 200 IM (1:48.51). Adam Koster also notched an individual win in the 100 free (44.25) in addition to his two relay victories.

On the diving board, Kurtis Mathews placed fourth with a score of 347.25 and Victor Povzner placed fifth with 335.85. Together they collected three points for the Maroon & White.

Up Next
The Aggies remain in Aggieland to host in-state rivals, No. 2 Texas at 6 p.m. in the Rec Center Natatorium.

Top Times On The Day
200 Medley Relay - Shaine Casas, Benjamin Walker, Adam Koster, Mike Thibert - 1:27.37 *
1000 Freestyle - Felipe Rizzo - 9:31.64
200 Free - Mark Theall - 1:37.53
100 Back - Shaine Casas - 48.04 *
100 Breast - Benjamin Walker – 54.93 *
200 Fly – Jace Brown – 1:48.39
50 Free – Adam Koster – 20.10
100 Free - Adam Koster - 44.25 *
200 Back - Shaine Casas - 1:44.78 *
200 Breast – Benjamin Walker – 1:57.79 *
500 Free - Mark Theall - 4:32.50
100 Fly - Shaine Casas - 47.73 *
200 IM - Benjamin Walker - 1:48.51 *
400 Free Relay – Adam Koster, Mike Thibert, Mark Theall, Jace Brown – 2:56.42 *

First place finishes are marked with *

Quotes
Men's Swimming Head Coach Jay Holmes
On the men's performance today…
"It was a great college dual meet. That's what makes college swimming so much fun. First, I'll go ahead and say that I hate winning due to a DQ. I never want to win that way. We could've won before-hand if a few other things went our way. Credit Ohio State for the job that they did. They made it difficult for us all day. There was some great races. Them winning the 200 free was a huge momentum change for them, because we were really counting on the 200 free. Same with the 500 free, because we were counting on winning the 500 free as well. It didn't happen, and we had to fight our way back out of it. Also, with diving getting the points that they got was pivotal for this whole thing. When you got a meet that comes down to the wire, all those points mean everything. This was a lot of fun today, no doubt about it."

On standout freshman, Andres Puente's performance…
"Benjamin Walker in the breaststrokes and IM along with our freshman Andres Puente right behind him did great. It was really awesome for Andres. We thought he was pretty good when we recruited him, and now he's convinced us that he's really good. Especially in his first college dual meet, putting up those kind of times was really impressive. Especially with where we're at right now. It's still October, and he's doing those types of things.

On Shaine Casas' swimming today…
"Shaine knew coming in that he's going to have to win his events. Normally we'd put him in the IM, but we put him in the 100 fly because somebody had to win that thing. Shaine did it, and Benjamin [Walker] had to win the 200 IM, which he did."

Head Diving Coach Jay Lerew
On the mens' performance today…
"Well it was a little disappointing with the guys' outcomes. Their warmups were terrific. They were making some big dives at 10 in the morning on the 1-meter, and I just think a little bit of fatigue caught up to them. I was hoping to see better. I think they should've won out this weekend. So they let me down a little bit, but I know they'll come back."

Senior Benjamin Walker
On his critical race…
"It was a lot of fun. That was a really great team we just raced. We knew going into the meet that a lot of guys were going to need to step up, and a lot of guys did step up. I was super fired up watching some of my teammates win really close races. I knew it was going to be a close meet, so that last 200 IM I really wanted to win for the team. I haven't had a lot of races in my career that had so much on the line like that, so I had a little extra incentive to find that extra gear to win that race for my team. It was a lot of fun."

Sophomore Shaine Casas
On his excitement moving forward…
"It was a really exciting meet! I haven't quite experienced that yet, being at Texas A&M. It was a great experience for us as a team. Individually I learned a lot, and there's still a long process we're going to need to go through. I'm really excited, because this is a really talented team. There's a lot of great things we can do, and I'm excited to see what happens."