Sport Updates
The football team will be seeking to end its season with a bowl victory for the fourth straight season when the Aggies take on Wake Forest in the 77th TaxSlayer Gator Bowl at 10 a.m. CT on Dec. 31 in Jacksonville, Fla. A fourth-consecutive bowl victory would match the longest streak in school history (2011-14) and make the Senior Class of 2021 just the second group of seniors to go 4-0 in bowl games. It's the 13th straight season with a bowl appearance by the Aggies, which is a school record.
The Aggies honored the seniors and celebrated their 2021 season at the annual team banquet on Dec. 5. Senior DB Leon O'Neal received the coveted Aggie Heart Award, while Micheal Clemons, Kenyon Green, Seth Small and Ainias Smith Jr. were honored as Team Captains.
The Aggies had three players that were finalists for national awards--OG Kenyon Green (Lombardi), TE Jalen Wydermyer (Mackey) and DE DeMarvin Leal (Hendricks), and Green and Leal have received All-America accolades from various selecting organizations. Five Aggies were named to the All-SEC team--Green, Leal and Wydermyer, along with RB Isaiah Spiller and P Nik Constantinou. The Aggies led the SEC with five players on the SEC Freshman Team--DB Tyreek Chappell, LB Edgerrin Cooper, OL Reuben Fatheree II, OL Bryce Foster and DL Shemar Turner.
Men's basketball is currently 7-2 on the season and are set to hit the road to face Oregon State on Saturday before returning to Reed Arena to face Northwestern State on Dec. 21 and Central Arkansas on Dec. 29 prior to the start of SEC play.
Women's basketball is 9-2 and ranked 23rd in The Associated Press Top-25 Poll. Gary Blair recently passed the great Shelby Metcalf for the most wins in Aggie basketball history, when he won his 439th game at the helm of the program against Texas Southern on Dec. 12. The Aggies have two more games before the holiday break against Rice (Dec. 19) and UTSA (Dec. 20). The Maroon & White is the best 3-point shooting team in the country, knocking down 43.7% of its shots from deep.
No. 2 equestrian finished the fall slate on a five-meet winning streak, including a perfect 3-0 record in SEC action. Most notably, Caroline Dance was named the National Collegian Equestrian Association Flat Rider of the Month and Standout Student Athlete of the Month. Dance, along with Kaitlyn Lovingfoss (Fences), MacKenzie Chapman (Horsemanship) and Malena Lopez (Reining) each earned SEC Rider of the Month for their respective event. The Aggies return to action at home on Jan. 29 against Baylor at the Hildebrand Equine Complex.
Men's golf's Sam Bennett finished the fall season ranked atop the PGA TOUR University Velocity Global Ranking, earning himself a sponsor exemption in to the 2022 Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic, which will be played Jan. 27-30, 2022, at the iconic Emirates Golf Club. Bennett has recorded two top-three finishes this season, and has shot par-or-better in all nine rounds of stroke play. In the final round of the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, Bennett shot a 66, matching his career low. A native of Madisonville, Texas, Bennett won three times last year, and compiled the second-lowest season average (70.53) in program history en route to being named a PING First Team All-American. His PGA TOUR University record includes seven top-five finishes and he has topped the Velocity Global Ranking each of the last six weeks.
Women's swimming & diving closed out a successful fall, taking second at the annual Art Adamson Invitational. Chloe Stepanek and Abby Grottle posted top-30 times in the nation at the meet as a number of Aggies notched their first NCAA B-cuts of the season. Alyssa Clairmont was A&M's highest finisher in two events at the Texas Diving Invitational after advancing to the 1-meter final and taking sixth in platform. The Aggies swam their last meet of 2021 earlier this month, topping Rice after tallying 10 top finishes. Current sophomore Sarah Szklaruk Traipe will be joined by post grad Aggies Beryl Gastaldello, McKenna DeBever, Jing Wen Quah, Sydney Pickrem and Alia Atkinson in Abu Dhabi this month for the FINA Short Course Worlds meet.
Men's swimming & diving placed second at the Art Adamson Invitational in the team's last true meet of the fall slate. Kaloyan Bratanov, Ethan Gogulski, Anze Fers Erzen and Munzy Kabbara clocked top 10 times nationally at the invitational, while eight total Aggies notched times that rank in the top 30 this season. Kurtis Mathews has impressed in his final season, as he won the 3-meter and took second on the 1-meter at the Texas Diving Invitational to earn his second SEC Male Diver of the Week honor of the season. Current student-athletes Kaloyan Bratanov, Munzy Kabbara and Jerard Jacinto will also be in action at FINA Short Course Worlds, and will be joined by fellow Aggies Shaine Casas and Angel Martinez, along with future Aggie Kaloyan Levterov.
Women's tennis had a spectacular finish to the fall tournament season at the Texas A&M Fall Invitational, as five newcomers made their first appearances in front of the 12th Man. Freshman Mary Stoiana improved to 7-2 overall with a 4-1 record against nationally-ranked opponents in singles, securing the tournament singles championship in the process. Additionally, Coach Weaver and Coach Szabo announced the signing of two highly touted recruits on National Signing Day, welcoming Daria Smetannikov and Mia Kupres into the fold. Daria is currently ranked No. 14 in the nation and stands as the highest ranked player from the state of New Jersey. Mia arrives in Aggieland as one of the top-100 junior tennis players in the world and has spent the last few years training at Canada's National Tennis Centre.
Track & field opened its season at the Wooo Pig Classic in Fayetteville, Ark. on Dec. 3. The Maroon & White set multiple all-time marks and won seven events. Most notably, Brandon Miller set an under-20 600m all-time world best time of 1:15.49 and Laila Owens recorded a Texas A&M school record 300m time of 37.06. In total, nine Aggies recorded Texas A&M all-time top-12 performance marks. The teams take off nearly six weeks before returning to action hosting the Ted Nelson Invitational on Jan. 14. During the break away from action, Bowerman finalists Tyra Gittens and Athing Mu travel to Orlando, Fla., for the awards ceremony which will announce the winner on Dec. 17. Gittens and Mu are two of three women's finalists.
