No. 4 Men’s Swimming & Diving Faces No. 11 Georgia

Saturday, January 11

Athens, Ga.

9:00 AM

Texas A&M

Georgia

Shaine Casas in position for relay leadoff

Jan 10, 2020 | Men's Swimming and Diving

By: Kyle Kirkland, Texas A&M Athletics

ATHENS, Ga. – The No. 4 Texas A&M men's swimming & diving team returns to action for its first SEC dual meet of the season, facing the No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs in the Gabrielsen Natatorium on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 9 a.m.

Back to Business
Texas A&M starts their springs slate with a 5-2 dual meet record. The swimmers are returning from a lengthy, 26-day break from competition, while the divers haven't competed since the second day of the Art Adamson Invite on Nov. 22. Most recently, the swimmers dominated the Holiday Invite, beating Incarnate Word 155-91 and Trinity 153-80. The bulk of the Maroon & White's standout times came from the Art Adamson Invite where they managed to set eight new school records and won by a margin of 647 points over second-place USC. Nine different Aggies own times ranked among the top-30 times in the nation, in addition to Texas A&M notching a top five time in all five relay events. As a result, the Maroon & White boast their ranking at the No. 4 spot by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America, their highest ranking since 2001.

"I'm really looking forward to this meet," said head coach Jay Holmes. "There's going to be some really good races in a lot of places. I'm really looking forward to getting our divers back on the board and competing again. Our divers are historically, very good, and I think they'll do a good job for us."

Aggies in the Top 30

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Kaloyan Bratanov	200 IM	1:45.19	24th
Shaine Casas	100 Back	:44.48	1st
Shaine Casas	200 IM	1:40.16	1st
Shaine Casas	200 Back	1:37.35	2nd
Shaine Casas	50 Back (Relay Leadoff)	:21.07	2nd
Shaine Casas	100 Fly	:45.26	3rd
Shaine Casas	200 Free (Relay Leadoff)	1:33.67	9th
Shaine Casas	50 Free (Relay Leadoff)	:19.54	20th
Shaine Casas	100 Free (Relay Leadoff)	:42.94	25th
Adam Koster	100 Free	:42.26	5th
Adam Koster	50 Free	:19.49	16th
Tanner Olson	100 Breast	:52.68	15th
Andres Puente	200 Breast	1:52.48	7th
Andres Puente	100 Breast	:52.49	12th
Andres Puente	400 IM	3:46.75	20th
Luke Stuart	1650 Free	15:06.58	28th
Mark Theall	500 Free	4:12.19	3rd
Mark Theall	200 Free	1:32.96	5th
Mark Theall	1650 Free	15:08.54	30th
Mike Thibert	50 Back (Relay Leadoff)	:21.91	27th
Benjamin Walker	200 Breast	1:53.33	11th

On the Diving Boards
Victor Povzner has had an exceptional start to his rookie campaign, collecting two SEC Men's Diver of the Week awards and winning the 3-meter dive three out of the four times competing in the event. Kurtis Mathews has placed within the top three seven times throughout the season, most recently completing a one-two finish in the 1-meter and 3-meter respectively, at the Art Adamson Invite. The last time Mathews was competing in Georgia was when he earned the silver medal in the 3-meter at the 2019 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships.

Scouting Georgia
"Historically, Georgia has been very good in the [long distance] events, so it'll be hard for us to beat them in those places. Some of the other races will be really close. I know we're pretty banged up with some injuries, and chances are, they probably are to. Regardless of the event, we'll line it up with the best people we got. We'll throw it at them, and see what happens."

Georgia owns a 3-1 dual meet record, claiming victories over Alabama, North Carolina and Duke with their lone loss to No. 9 Florida. Additionally, the Bulldog swimmers won the Tennessee Invitational, while their diver, Zach Allen, placed second and third in the 3-meter and 1-meter respectively at the Tennessee Diving Invitational.

Follow the Action
Check 12thman.com and follow @AggieSwimDive on Twitter for results.