Puente Breaks School Record on Final Day of NCAA Championships

Wednesday, March 22

Minneapolis, Minn.

Texas A&M

NCAA Championships

Photo by: Bjorn Franke

Mar 25, 2023 | Men's Swimming and Diving

By: Katy Gallaher, Athletics Communications

PDF Results

MINNEAPOLIS – Andres Puente shattered the school record and earned All-America honors in the 200 breast as the No. 12 Texas A&M men's swimming & diving team closed out competition at NCAA Championships at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center on Saturday. The Aggies finished 14th overall with a total of 80 points.

Puente highlighted the morning session as he swam a Texas A&M record-breaking 1:50.86 in the 200 breast. The senior advanced to the Championship Final where he placed eighth with a time of 1:51.66, collecting his fourth individual and seventh overall All-America honors.

Rhett Hensley led the diving squad on the final day of NCAAs, punching his ticket to the Consolation Final on the platform. Hensley put up a score of 345.55 to earn 13th in the event, becoming an All-American.

Topping off NCAAs, the 400 free relay team of Connor Foote, Kaloyan Bratanov, Collin Fuchs and Baylor Nelson clocked a 2:50.67, placing 19th. Nelson notched a personal-best split of 42.33.

Ethan Gogulski was in action in the 200 back prelims as he finished top 20, swimming a 1:41.16 in a tie for 19th. Alex Sanchez recorded a 1:53.91 in the 200 breast. Anze Fers Erzen added another top-20 finish for the Aggies, swimming a personal-best 1:42.55 in the 200 fly.

Post Meet Quotes
Head coach Jay Holmes on the NCAA Championship meet ...
This was a typical NCAA meet, every point mattered and nothing was easy, just as a National Championship meet should be. For us, all our points were spread around the team. This wasn't just swimming points or just diving points or just relay points. All three parts of those contributed to get us into the top 15. I'm really proud of Andres [Puente] and Rhett [Hensley] today. It was Andres' first time to make the Championship Final and he finally set the school record that has been eluding him for several seasons. Seeing Rhett up there on the 10-meter scoring points at this caliber of a meet was an awesome experience. To get to the meet was great, to score points was awesome.

While we certainly will always want more than top-15, our staff is really proud of our guys, their effort and purpose. I want to specifically mention our seniors. That class is special. Our future will for sure be better because they were all here and created such a positive culture for our team.

2023 NCAA All-Americans
Allen Bottego – 1-meter
Kaloyan Bratanov – 200 medley relay, 800 free relay, 400 medley relay
Connor Foote – 200 medley relay, 800 free relay, 100 fly, 400 medley relay
Collin Fuchs – 800 free relay
Ethan Gogulski – 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay
Rhett Hensley – Platform
Baylor Nelson – 800 free relay, 200 IM, 400 IM
Victor Povzner – 1-meter, 3-meter
Andres Puente – 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay, 200 breast

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.