No. 8 Aggies Take Down No. 25 SMU in Dual Meet Finale

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 8 Texas A&M men's swimming & diving team closed out the dual meet portion of its schedule with a 190-109 victory over No. 25 SMU Friday night at the Rec Center Natatorium. The Aggies boast a 9-0 record on the year, marking the program's first undefeated dual meet season since 1955-56. 
 
Following a Senior Day celebration prior to the meet, the Aggies got out to a strong start as the 200 medley relay team of Thomas Shomper, Alex Sanchez, Connor Foote and Seth Reno clocked a first-place time of 1:25.35. 

Batuhan Filiz was the first Aggies to touch the wall in both distance events after going a season-best 15:11.45 in the 1650 free and 4:25.22 in the 500 free, placing second in both events. Trey Dickey was just behind him in third in each event, clocking in at 15:13.30 in the 1650 free and 4:27.07 in the 500 free. 
 
Baylor Nelson posted the top time in three events, clocking in at 1:34.07 in the 200 free and later leading the way as the Aggies swept the top three spots int he 200 back with a time of 1:42.44. Nelson closed out the day going 3:45.40 in the 400 IM. 
 
Sanchez added a pair of first-place finishes in the victory as he went 53.34 in the 100 breast before leading three Aggies in the top three in the 200 breast with a time of 1:55.02. 
 
The 200 free relay team of Foote, Carter Nelson, Collin Fuchs and Baylor Nelson closed things out with a top-time of 1:18.70. 
 
The divers dominated on both springboards as Victor Povzner led the way with the top score on both the 1-meter (396.98) and 3-meter (443.78). Allen Bottego and Takuto Endo added top-four scores on each board as Bottego placed second in the 1-meter (384.00) and third on the 3-meter (360.98), while Endo posted a score of 306.90 on the 1-meter to place third and 343.50 on the 3-meter to finish fourth. Rhett Hensley took second in his only event of the day with a score of 368.48 on the 3-meter. 

POST MEET QUOTES
Head coach Jay Holmes on the final dual home meet ...
"We were really pleased with how this win got done. We are getting better and we knew coming into today that we pretty much had to. The last couple of meets we had started slow and had to work our way back into the meet. Today's opening medley relay is one of the few dual meets we've actually put it together fairly well. Getting that win to get us started was important for us.  

"There were several places we didn't match up with SMU very well. That is the best SMU team we've seen for maybe the last decade. Their front-line personnel is very good and we couldn't do much about it.  

"Diving again made a huge difference for us. Victor [Povzner] scoring over 400 is awesome. Our group of divers is hard to beat since there seems to be at least one of them going big every outing. 

"Our seniors had a good day. Thomas Shomper getting a win in the 100 back and pushing Baylor [Nelson] in the 200, and [Collin] Fuchs getting his win and going 43.5 were fun moments. We had been waiting on [Alex] Sanchez to get back to form since November. He is one the highest-ranking breaststrokers in the NCAA and he has been struggling, but he for sure was back today getting his two wins.

"We will choose our SEC [Championships] team real soon. Today our team gave us their report of where they were. We will choose our team off of that report."

On going undefeated in dual meets this season ... 
"We knew that it had been a very long time since an A&M men's team had gone through a dual meet season undefeated. We are grateful to our team and staff to be able to mark another thing off the list of things that hadn't happened in a while this season and are hoping this team can continue on with things like that."
 
UP NEXT
Texas A&M will begin preparing for SEC Championships, which run Feb. 19-24 at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center on Auburn's campus. 

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