No. 12 Aggies Travel for NCAA Championships

Mar 21, 2023 | Men's Swimming and Diving

By: Katy Gallaher, Athletics Communications

MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 12 Texas A&M men's swimming & diving team gears up for competition at the 2023 NCAA Championships at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center, running from Wednesday, March 22 to Saturday, March 25. A full schedule with start times and events can be found below.

The Aggies have been nationally-ranked all season and now send 15 members of the men's team to make the trip, including seven swimmers and four divers that have individually qualified. All individual swimmers boast top-30 times in the nation, and four of them have notched top-10 times. All five Aggie relays have hit NCAA qualifying times and will see action this week.

Kaloyan Bratanov returns for his third NCAA appearance. The senior is a six-time All-American and will be competing individually in the 200 free and 200 IM. This season, he has registered the 15th-fastest time in the country, swimming the 200 IM to a 1:44.12. He also holds a top-25 time in the 200 free (1:32.49).

Ethan Gogulski will be competing in both backstroke events for the second year in a row at NCAAs. This season, he holds the 17th-fastest time in the nation after going 1:39.98 in the 200, and his time of 45.64 in the 100 is ranked No. 31.

Alex Sanchez will be representing the Maroon & White in his first NCAA Championships meet in both breaststroke events, having recorded the eighth-fastest time in the nation this season in the 200 (1:51.09) while also notching a top-30 time in the 100 (51.90). Andres Puente returns for his third NCAA appearance and will join Sanchez in the 200, sitting just behind at No. 8 with a time of 1:51.14.

Anze Fers Erzen returns to NCAA Championships after making his debut at the meet last season. The senior will take on the 400 IM and currently holds the seventh-fastest time in the nation, going 3:39.05 at the Art Adamson Invitational.

Freshmen Baylor Nelson and Connor Foote will be making their NCAA debut. Nelson highlights the IM events, boasting the seventh-fastest time in the country in the 200 (1:40.86) and the sixth-fastest in the 400 (3:38.14). He will also be competing in the 100 back, standing at No. 13 in the country at 1:39.79. Nelson collected hardware in every one of these events at SECs, claiming two gold medals in the IM events, and a silver in the 200 back. Foote punched his ticket in the 100 fly with a top-20 national time of 45.22.

Jace Brown, Kraig Bray, Collin Fuchs and Carter Nelson will join the Aggies in Minneapolis to compete in the relay events.

Victor Povzner leads the men's diving team after making multiple trips to the medal stand at SEC Championships, earning gold on the 1-meter and silver on the 3-meter. The junior qualified for both springboards at Zones for the second year straight and is coming off a top-16 finish on the 3-meter at last year's meet. Rhett Hensley will be representing the Aggies in all three events in his first NCAA Championships meet, qualifying at Zones on the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform. Hensley has had an impressive season and recently earned bronze on the 1-meter at the SEC Championships. Punching his ticket to his second NCAA Championships in as many seasons, Allen Bottego will be in action on the 1-meter and platform. Also taking on the 3-meter will be Takuto Endo, who highlighted his season with a career-best 430.15 on the 3-meter at SECs, earning himself a bronze medal.

Live results can be found here or on the Meet Mobile app, and results for the diving portion of the meet can be found here. The meet will be streamed on ESPN+.

Complete Schedule:
Wednesday, March 22 – Swim Results | Watch Live
Finals – 6 p.m. – 200 Medley Relay, 800 Free Relay

Thursday, March 23 – Swim Results | Dive Results | Watch Live
Prelims – 10 a.m.
Finals – 6 p.m. – 500 Free, 200 IM, 50 Free, 1-Meter, 200 Free Relay

Friday, March 24 – Swim Results | Dive Results | Watch Live
Prelims – 10 a.m.
Finals – 6 p.m. – 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back, 3-Meter, 400 Medley Relay

Saturday, March 25 – Swim Results | Dive Results | Watch Live
Prelims – 10 a.m.
Finals – 6 p.m. – 1650 Free, 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, Platform, 400 Free Relay

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 @AggieS wimDive.