COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The defending Southeastern Conference Champion Texas A&M women’s swimming and diving team will host Southeastern Conference foe South Carolina in its 2016-17 home opener at 5 p.m. on Friday at the Student Recreation Natatorium.
MOST RECENT ACTION:
The 1-0 Aggies are coming off a 182-105 road win over Incarnate Word last week. The Aggies grabbed at least the top two spots while sweeping all 16 events against the Cardinals. Grabbing multiple victories were junior Béryl Gastaldello in the women’s 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly, senior Sarah Gibson in the 200 fly and 500 free and freshman Katie Portz in the 100 and 200 free. Returnees with solo victories were junior Caitlyn Moon in the 1,000 free (10:21.51), sophomore Alais Kalonji in the one-meter dive, junior Lisa Bratton in the 200 back and junior Bethany Galat in the 400 IM. Newcomers with single wins were redshirt freshman Raena Eldridge in the 50 free and freshman Kaley Batten in the three-meter dive (277.70).
HEAD COACH STEVE BULTMAN:
On the home opener as the defending SEC Champs: “We’re excited to get started in front of the home crowd, for sure, and to do it as the defending SEC Champions is extremely rewarding. To work so hard in pursuit of a goal and then to accomplish it last year at the SEC Championships was pretty neat. We had some of our girls that weren’t rested or shaved, but they found a way to get it done and put us over the top.”
On the team’s veteran returnees: “We have a good group of returnees back this year. We have five swimmers (Lisa Bratton, Beryl Gastaldello, Bethany Galat, Sarah Gibson and Sydney Pickrem) back that placed in the top eight at the NCAA Championships in at least two events. We also get a couple of redshirts (senior Ashley McGregor and junior Franko Jonker) back that have scored at the national meet. Combined with our newcomers, I think we can be a pretty strong team and I’m anxious see them compete in our home pool.”
On the team’s 2016 summer accomplishments: “We had some great performances at the Olympic Trials with some great swims and some near misses. It was extremely gratifying to see two current and three former swimmers in Rio and for them to have some very good performances. We took a big group to the US Open and we were able to win the team competition for a second straight year. I was pleased that we were able to come back after the Olympic Trials and reproduce or even better some of the times at the US Open.”
MEET INFO:
The Texas A&M-South Carolina dual meet, which is in conjunction with Alumni Weekend, has been designated the “Pink Meet” for breast cancer awareness and the first 100 fans at the Rec will receive pink Texas A&M Swimming and Diving flip flops…Admission is free.
LIVE RESULTS/WATCH:
Live results can be accessed on 12thMan.com or Meet Mobile. The competition will be available digitally on mobile devices, tablets, PCs and connect-TVs for SEC Network subscribers whose cable/satellite packages allow access to SEC Network+ through the WatchESPN app and SECSports.com.
Swimming news courtesy of Texas A&M Swimming & Diving.