Men’s Swimming & Diving Podium Twice, Remain Second Thru Day Four of the SEC Championships

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AUBURN, Ala. – Sophomore Shaine Casas helped up the medal count as the Texas A&M men's swimming & diving team remained in second with 727 points on the fourth day of the 2020 SEC Championships Friday at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center on the Auburn campus.

Casas made his second trip to the podium with a second-place finish in the 100 back (44.68). Casas returned in the day-four finale, the 400 medley relay. Casas was joined by senior Benjamin Walker, senior Adam Koster and junior Mark Theall, placing third (3:05.15) and improving the Aggies' medal count to 11 on the week. Texas A&M owns four gold, four silver and three bronze medals with one day of competition remaining.

Walker erased the school record with his fourth-place finish in the 100 breast (52.00). Freshman Andres Puente also made it to the A final and placed seventh with a personal-best time of 52.27. His NCAA B-cut time was good for third on A&M's all-time 100 breast list.

Also adding points for the Maroon & White was sophomore Luke Stuart and freshman Jace Brown in the 200 fly. Stuart became the fifth-fastest 200-yard flier in Texas A&M history and tied for 13th with a personal-best time of 1:44.83. Brown finished 15th clocking in at 1:45.04, an NCAA B-cut time. In the 100 back, senior Mike Thibert recorded an NCAA B cut with a time of 47.33, placing 14th.

Despite not advancing to the finals, junior Kurtis Mathews and freshman Victor Povzner made their collegiate debuts in platform dive. Mathews (252.80) and Povzner (245.60) finished 16th and 19th, respectively, supplying a combined total of 17 points.

Up Next
Texas A&M counts on a few big performances going into the homestretch of the SEC Championships on Saturday at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center. The prelims start at 9:30 a.m. and the finals are set for 5:30 p.m.

Quotes
Men's head coach Jay Holmes
On day four of the SEC Championships…
"We're just happy to be here. This really is a fantastic conference meet. There are so many good teams here. Florida is the defending champs for a reason. They continue to put together a good session each time. Today in the 200 fly we got two guys in the consolations [B finals]. In the 100 breast we were living life right, because we got the last qualifier in the C final and the last two in the A final. All of them got that chance to move up in the finals, so the 100 breast was a really good event for us. In the 100 back, Shaine [Casas] and Mike [Thibert] were representing us. Both of them had really good races. I know Shaine's got a lot more in him, and we're going to see that real soon."

On moving forward into the final day…
"We're thrilled to be in the hunt for this thing. We have a good day tomorrow. There's a lot of our good guys that are swimming tomorrow. We have a lot of guys that will, arguably, be in their best events. We're still in a fight for this thing. We're going to see what happens."

On Kurtis Mathews and Victor Povzner in the platform event…
"Kurtis [Mathews] and Victor [Povzner] on the platforms was huge for us. That isn't their thing; they never do that event. They did it to help our team, and they were able to get 17 points for us. Those points could end up being the difference for us."

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

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Jace Brown

Shaine Casas

Adam Koster

Kurtis Mathews

Victor Povzner

Andres Puente

Luke Stuart

Mark Theall

Mike Thibert

Benjamin Walker

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