A&M Remains in First at Art Adamson Invitational

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BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 11 Texas A&M men's swimming & diving team resumed competition at the Art Adamson Invitational Thursday inside the Rec Center Natatorium, registering multiple NCAA A-cuts and best times. The Aggies have maintained their lead, upping their total to 804.5 points.
 
Beginning day two of finals, the 200 medley relay team of Ethan Gogulski, Andres Puente, Connor Foote and Baylor Nelson swam the second-fastest time in school history with an NCAA A-cut time of 1:23.45. Foote's 50 fly split of 20.18 goes down as the fastest in program history, as he betters the second-fastest he set earlier this season.
 
The Maroon & White loaded up the 400 IM, finishing 1-2-3-4 and notching two NCAA A-cuts. Leading the Aggies were Baylor Nelson (3:38.39), Anze Fers Erzen (3:39.05), Puente (3:41.22) and Maximiliano Vega (3:46.19).
 
Claiming the top spot in the 100 fly, Foote swam to a 46.24 and touching the wall immediately after was Jace Brown, clocking a personal best of 46.29. Additional points came from Clayton Conklin (47.00), Alex Sanchez (47.06) and Thomas Shomper (47.45).
 
Bratanov paced the Aggies as he finished third in the 200 free, recording a personal best of 1:32.49. Top-16 finishes for A&M also came from Collin Fuchs (1:38.70), Carter Nelson (1:35.28) and William Coakley (1:37.96)
 
Sanchez was the top finisher in the 100 breast, edging out his teammate Andres Puente (52.09) and putting up a personal best of 51.90. Vincent Ribeiro (53.87) also added points for A&M.
 
Gogulski placed first in the 100 back with a time of 45.64, the fastest in the nation this season. Shomper followed in third (46.96), Tyler Hulet in sixth (47.36) and Kaloyan Levterov in 13th (48.46).
 
Closing out day two, the 800 free relay added a second-place finish as Baylor Nelson, Bratanov, Foote and Carter Nelson recorded a time of 6:21.71.
 
Up Next
The Maroon & White return to the pool Friday for the final day of the Art Adamson Invitational with prelims beginning at 9:30 a.m., 1,650 free finals at 2:30 p.m. and finals starting at 5:30 p.m. Admission to the meet is free and information on following the meet is listed below.
 
Visit 12thman.com for more information on Texas A&M men's swimming & diving. Fans can keep up to date with the Aggies Facebook, Instagram, and on Twitter by following @AggieSwimDive.
 
Art Adamson Invitational Remaining Schedule
Friday, November 18: Live Results - Meet Mobile/ Watch (finals only)
9:30 a.m.            Prelims
2:30 p.m.            1,650 free finals
5:30 p.m.            Finals – 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 400 free relay

Post Meet Quotes
Head coach Jay Holmes on day two of the Art Adamson Invitational ... 
The second day of the three-day meet, this is the longest day. It's a test for us to see if we can put this thing together. Top priority of this meet for Jason [Calanog] and I is to get our relays qualified for NCAA [Championships]. Both of our medley relays are qualified, but we missed the 800 free tonight. It was kind of a sour way to end the day because this was really a great session for us. We are very happy with the medleys. Winning the 200 medley today, and our B relay was pretty smoking-fast too, was really fun, they really put it together. The competition for those spots is heating up. The fly competition between Jace Brown and Connor Foote is going strong. Alex Sanchez keeps talking like he is going to challenge Andres [Puente] in the breaststroke, and today he beat him. It was so fun, Alex was so excited and he got a time that, in all likelihood should get him to NCAAs. 

On the Aggies' success in the 400 IM ... 
The 400 IM was probably the swim of the day for us, with Baylor [Nelson] getting first and Anze [Fers Erzen] getting second. This was one of my favorite races that I can remember. They train together every day and I was hoping that it would be the kind of race where one person takes a step out and the other answers, and that's what it was the whole race. They pushed each other and it was really exciting to see both of them get A-cuts. Those A-cuts are really hard to get, there are so few people that get them, and we got two of them tonight. Andres going 3:41 in the 400 IM was probably just as impressive as Baylor and Anze getting the A-cut. It was just a great swim. 
 
On the 200 free ... 
Kaloyan Bratanov was good in the 200 free. He came out on the back half, like he always does, and made it really interesting. He waited a little bit too long to be able to win it, but it was a really good race. 
 
On the 100 fly ... 
Going 1-2 in the fly was really, fun. Connor is the big, tall freshman and Jace is the senior with a can-do attitude. It was a great race, Jace almost got him at the end. 
 
On the 200 back and closing out the day ... 
In the 100 back, Ethan [Gogulski] just did what he does. Thomas [Shomper] went under 47 for the first time. It was really a good day for us. There was a lot of excitement in the air. We had something in every race to be excited about, we just didn't get it done on the 800 freestyle relay. But we know we have the personnel to get it done, but we will just have to take care of it at SEC [Championships]. 
 
On finishing the meet strong ...
In a lot of ways, we feel like Friday can be our strongest day because it's the 200 of strokes. The third morning is the true test of a team. If you have a team that shows up at the last prelim session of a three- or four-day meet, you know your team has that special edge. We have already challenged our team with that. We know everyone at this meet is tried, they are exhausted, because of all the swims and races. Tomorrow morning, it will be interesting to see how every team shows up. We will get answer and see who we are.