TEXAS VS. TEXAS A&M
- Results
- Hosted by Texas A&M
- Friday, November 3rd
- 25 Yards
- Dual Meet Format
FINAL TEAM SCORES:
On Friday, the Texas A&M Aggies and Texas Longhorns renewed their men’s swimming and diving rivalry, with the teams meeting in a dual meet for the first time since the 2014-15 season. The Aggies did something they haven’t done in 55 years when they faced the reigning NCAA champion Longhorns in dual meet action: They came out on top. The Longhorn women also traveled to to College Station to compete with the Aggies. It came down to the final race, but the Longhorns notched their 3rd-straight dual meet win over Texas A&M as they won by 3 points.
- MEN: Texas A&M 158, Texas 142
- WOMEN: Texas 151.5, Texas A&M 148.5
MEET HIGHLIGHTS:
Texas A&M’s Mauro Castillo Luna put together a winning triple to help the men achieve their first victory over Texas since 1962. Luna, the top returner from the 200 breast at last season’s NCAAs, swept the breaststroke events. He was dominant in both, swimming to a 53.70 in the 100 breast and a 1:55.93 in the 200 breast to lead a 1-2 finish with teammate Tanner Olson (54.98/2:00.52) both times.
Castillo Luna finished off the triple in the 200 IM against Texas All-American Jonathan Roberts. They traded blows through the first 3 legs, with Castillo Luna leading after fly but Roberts taking over on the back leg. He once again took over the lead by outsplitting Roberts 29.93 to 32.32 on the breast leg, never looking back as Roberts chased him with a 24.97 free split. At the finish, Castillo Luna held on to his advantage, winning in 1:47.54 to Roberts’ 1:47.74.
Teammate Brock Bonetti also had a close race with Roberts as a part of his backstroke sweep. In the 200 back, he built a 1.5-second lead through the 150, holding off Roberts’ 25.29 closing surge to win in 1:43.02 ahead of Roberts’ 1:43.37. Bonetti had won the 100 back earlier in the session, putting up a 47.15 ahead of Texas backstroke star John Shebat (48.11).
Bonetti and Shebat battled again in the 100 fly. Shebat took off with a 22.45 on the front half and this time got his hands to the wall first, narrowly holding off Bonetti to win it 48.29 to 48.31. Notably absent from today’s meet was Texas’ top butterflier Joseph Schooling, who swam the first day of the Longhorns’ 2-day meet against Florida and Indiana 2 weeks ago but hasn’t made an appearance since.
The Longhorns got a pair of wins each from NCAA champion Townley Haas and sprint standout Brett Ringgold. In his signature 200 free, Haas led from start to finish, touching in 1:38.35 ahead of teammate Jeff Newkirk (1:38.96). He returned to win the 500 free in 4:27.38. Ringgold, on the other hand, took control of the shorter freestyles. In the 50 free, he out-touched Texas A&M’s Adam Koster 19.92 to 19.94. They went 1-2 again in the 100 free, with Ringgold winning in 43.85, followed by Koster (44.33).
On the women’s side, Longhorn Joanna Evans swept her individual events, picking up 3 wins to help her team to victory. She won back-to-back events to open the session, starting with the 1000 free. She surged ahead of the field in 9:44.53, while freshman teammate Evie Pfeifer joined her under 9:50 to take 2nd in 9:49.03. Evans returned shortly after, with only the men’s 1000 free between her events, to swim the 200 free. She came from behind with a 26.99 closing split to win that race in 1:46.72.
Evans secured the triple in the 500 free, where she once again led a 1-2 charge with Pfeifer (4:46.88). She took control of the race early on, building her lead throughout her 4:43.32 victory. Also contributing individual wins for Texas were Remedy Rule and Quinn Carrozza. Rule held a steady lead through the 200 fly, posting a 1:55.79 ahead of the Aggies’ Bethany Galat (1:57.19). Carrozza battled closely with Texas A&M’s Lisa Bratton in the 200 back, holding off a 28.15 final surge from Bratton to take the win 1:53.80 to 1:53.84.
The Aggies had 2 swimmers, Béryl Gastaldello and Sydney Pickrem, pick up multiple individual wins. Gastaldello swept the sprints, outswimming Texas’ Rebecca Millard in the 50 free 22.30 to 22.68. In the 100 free, Miller flipped with a 3-tenth advantage at the 50, but Gastaldello hammered home in 25.17 to run her down and take the win in 49.16 to Millard’s 49.36.
Pickrem’s first win came in the 200 breast. She trailed teammate Anna Belousova (2:10.44) at the halfway mark, but started to close the gap on the 3rd 50. She pulled even with Belousova as they approached the finish, getting her hands to the wall to win it by a hundredth in 2:10.43. Pickrem had another close race in the 400 IM with teammate Monika Gonzalez (4:12.23). They were fairly even heading into the final leg, as Pickrem took the edge on backstroke but Gonzalez closed the gap on breaststroke. Pickrem was able to hold on to her narrow lead to win it in 4:12.09.
PRESS RELEASE – TEXAS A&M:
Not yet available as of 11:30 PM eastern time.
PRESS RELEASE – TEXAS WOMEN:
Not yet available as of 11:30 PM eastern time.
PRESS RELEASE – TEXAS MEN:
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 5 Texas posted seven wins over No. 11 Texas A&M Friday evening in its dual meet at A&M’s Student Rec Center Natatorium.
Texas A&M opened the meet by taking the top three spots atop the one-meter diving event and winning the 200-yard medley relay. Texas responded with a one-two-three showing in the 1,000 freestyle, where All-America senior Jonathan Roberts was victorious in 9:15.81. Freshman JohnThomas Larson took second at 9:19.63 and freshman Chris Yeager held on for third at 9:21.37.
Texas took the top-three slots in the 200 freestyle. Junior Townley Haas, the silver medalist in the 200m freestyle at the 2017 FINA World Championships, claimed the win at 1:38.35. His classmate Jeff Newkirkplaced second at 1:39.96, and sophomore Jacob Huerta took third at 1:39.43.
A&M’s Brock Bonetti took the win in the 100 backstroke at 47.25, though Texas collected seven points with its second- and third-place finishes. Junior John Shebat, the 2017 NCAA runner-up in the event, took second at 48.11. Freshman Austin Katz placed third at 48.57. Senior Brett Ringgold snagged a close win in the 50 freestyle at 19.92.
A&M took an 83-67 lead into the next swimming event, the 100 freestyle, and Ringgold finished off the sprint sweep in 43.85. Later on, Shebat gutted out a tight win in the 100 butterfly at 48.29. Freshman Sam Pomajevich added a couple of points with his fourth-place mark of 49.47.
Freshman Jordan Windle earned a split for the Longhorns among the diving events, as he captured the three-meter event with 420.68 points. Texas wrapped the meet with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay, as Ringgold, Tate Jackson, Huerta and Haas finished in 2:55.85. Texas A&M won the meet by a 158-142 count.
Texas resumes dual-meet competition next Friday at No. 6 N.C. State.
No one in this discussion believes Ags will outscore Horns at nationals.
Double Whoop!!
Regardless of whether or not Texas cares about duel meets, I would hate to be on this Texas team that lost to A&M for the first time since 1962. Hard training or not, to me it’s just unacceptable.
You’d hate to be on a team going for a 4-peat at NCAA’s? that’s pretty sad you’d rather win something that doesn’t matter over winning the biggest meet of the college season but I guess that’s why people with that mindset aren’t on the team to begin with.
CompletelyConquered can correct me if I am wrong, but my interpretation of that comment was that the Texas guys probably hate to lose to a team that they haven’t lost to in 55 years, not that they care more about a dual meet than NCAAs. They probably hate to lose in general, but their focus is undoubtedly on the national championship and I’m sure they will move on from this quickly and look towards trying to make a statement at NCAAs and possibly the midseason invite and conference meets.
Thank you Lauren. I know quite a few Texas exes, so Dudeman will just have to believe me when I say they don’t like to lose.
Not arguing that they don’t like to lose, nobody does, but these guys are more worried about showing up and winning when it really matters. I’m sure those exes would tell you they’d rather win NCAA’s than any duel meet. Sure it might sting that it’s been 50+ years since they last lost to A&M but I don’t think they’re as concerned with the loss as everyone else is.
Your opinion is logical. However I really believe that everything Eddie Reese does is deliberate. And I believe that the members of the team have bought in to his philosophy 100%. As a result, I completely disagree with with you because the team will not sacrifice any part of the plan for short term gains like winning dual meets that are not at all important to their ultimate goal. Beating ANY team in a dual meet does nothing to improve their best times at NCAAs. So if that means swimming tired and losing. So be it.
You are 100 percent correct. The Texas men have been working far harder this year than they have the past four seasons – at least according to Roberts. They know that it will be a job at NCAAs having lost Conger, Licon, and Smith among others. This will impact relays and consequently big points will be well contested. Although they hate to lose anything, it’s all about the end game. A&M swam well and worked for their win; but things will be far different as far as times are concerned when they get to the Texas Invitational, Big XII Champs, and NCAA.
Maybe this is a bit of an out-there opinion, but after watching the Longhorns both last year and now early into this season, I feel like it’s clear they don’t care at all about any meet that isn’t NCAA’s or some form of World Trials.
If they suit up for Big 12s at all, they’ll always win that, and that has to be the bare minimum expectation for the team each and every year, along with getting one relay A cut. We see them time and again save their full tapers for NCAA’s, and I think that’s because literally all other meets have become irrelevant to them at this point.
So while it’s good for them to swim these duals… Read more »
Absolutely correct. The Big 12 is a joke and Texas has no pride in winning duals. They are all in with one taper with their season solely focused on NCAAs
They can qualify for NCAAs without the full taper, which most swimmers aren’t able to do. So, it’s a credit to their talent that they can just do the one taper and they let their best performances pile up the points at the NCAA champs.
They always rest some for their invite and pick up the majority of their cuts their
There….
Seems to do more with their hard work and ethic than merely being talented..
Texas just recruited 6 top talents. Don’t kid yourself.
Let’s not forget that Texas always has their biggest month of training in October, as they’ve said the last few years. Too many people freak out about how badly Texas is doing in the fall at meets that don’t matter and they always show up at NCAA’s. Just let them swim through the season.
Just curious how the non-marquee guys will hold up and step up. It’s one thing for some of the guys to swim lights out when Licon, Smith, Conger are lighting up relays and wins (obviously along with Haas last year), but this year they’ve got what looks like only two or three legit shots at individual golds (Haas in the 200, maybe 500, Schooling in the 200 fly — if he’s healthy — and maybe the 100 — doubtful). Sure you might bet on Shebat, but he’s pretty untested in the limelight.
Finals at trials
A Finals at NCAAS
NCAA record relays
Clearly super untested in the limelight.
There’s A finals or Trials final limelight and being the weak leg on a record setting relay with 3 NCAA record holders, and then there’s top 3 NCAA individual event/relays limelight. Totally different story. Easy to be the underdog, not so easy to be the top dog. Just ask your boy Mr. Schooling.
Isn’t Shebat the top returner in both back events? If getting 2nd at NCAAs while breaking both UT team records isn’t a sign he is ‘tested’ I don’t know what is.
Winning it. And maybe showing up for the events at World Trials. He stunk in backstroke this summer.
It’s not likely that moving up or down one or two places in an individual event will have any impact on team scoring. It’s a numbers game. So we need to know how many A final finishes they will have. Haas shebat schooling ? Who else?
Johnathan Roberts, Brett Ringgold, definitely.
Jeff Newkirk, Sam Stewart, Tate Jackson, maybe.
We’ll see what freshmen came to play after Invite.
Not to mention the as yet unmeasured return of Ryan Harty.
They should still be at 400+ points then. I don’t see anyone else topping that score.
John Thomas Larson will A final in the 500.
>>44.58
>>Weak leg
Crooked Donald. Clearly an expert on swimming. Sad.
Hahaha he doesn’t know anything
Sheba will do very well in backstroke. Murphy is gone, Shebat’s turn now.
Great swims all around for the Aggies.
Let’s wait until the invites before we throw Texas under the bus.
Jeez, I came here to make a bunch of jokes about how Texas Is Bad Now but gotdamn y’all already made ’em all.
If you are not first, you are last.
That’s the peyote talking….
Ricky bobby is my hero
Saw that movie in theaters, and absolutely my favorite part was when he and Sacha Baron Cohen’s character started making out at the end. The dudes in the row in front of me basically started having a competition over who was more grossed out by it.
THAT’S GROSS, BRO.
UGH THAT’S SICK.
WHY. JUST WHY.
Great story.
See y’all in Minneapolis
Unhook “em