Big 12 Weekly Awards
Men’s Swimmer of the Week: Bryan Snowden (Texas A&M) – Swept the breaststrokes against LSU, was also a member of the winning 400 medley relay
Women’s Swimmer of the Week: Breeja Larson (Texas A&M) – Swept the breaststrokes against LSU, was also a member of the winning 400 medley relay
Aggies Take Down Bayou Bengals in Rivalry meet
The LSU and Texas A&M programs have gone in opposite directions the past season or two. While A&M has zoomed to national prominence, LSU has slipped back a little, though they are rebuilding with a new coach Dave Geyer, and a few lights-out sprinters. But this meet still carries a lot of significance for both teams as a rivalry that has been heated for years, if not decades. That, combined with A&M’s senior-night ceremonies, means that both teams had no problem getting up big for this meet.
On the women’s side, #8 A&M (4-2) beat #23 (10-4) LSU by a score of 163-120. This is despite exhibitioning all (or all but one) of the last 7 events of the meet. The #20 A&M men (5-0) beat the #22 LSU men (6-5) by a much less robust, but very similar, score of 166-134.
The A&M women, in short, dismantled LSU. They won 14 out of the 16 events (including 2 diving and 2 relays), but that doesn’t tell the whole story. In those 13 wins, A&M placed 1-2-3-4 in five of them, and 1-2-3 in a handful more. The most encouraging of these finishes was a 1-2-3-4 in the 100 free: an event where the Aggies have the most question marks this season. This was led by a 50.47 from Maria Sommer.
Among the more impressive swims for the Aggies was a 1:00.8 from freshman Breeja Larson in the 100 breaststroke. Larson appears to be the next in a line of hidden gems for A&M coach Steve Bultman and staff, following in the footsteps of former Aggie National Team members Kristen Heiss and Christine Marshall, who didn’t get much hype coming out of high school either. Larson had never gone faster than a 1:02.6 in high school, and is now all of a sudden thrust into the 100 breaststroke national title race.
Whenever LSU comes to town this season, however, there is a reason for fans to go out and watch. That reason is Jane Trepp, who demonstrated herself as one of the top short course sprinters in the world last month with a 4th-place finish in the 100 IM at the World Championships in Dubai. After a taper for that meet, Trepp quickly ramped her training back up with an eye for NCAA’s, so her times came down to earth a little in this meet, but they were still very impressive. She won both the 50 free (22.46) and 100 fly (53.72). She has yet to go down in the 50 free this season.
The men’s side of the meet was much more competitive, as would be expected by the more-comparable rankings of the respective teams.
The A&M men, who went without a midseason taper meet this year, put up their season-best time in the 400 medley of 3:17.73, including a great 43.55 anchor from senior Balazs Makany. This moves them into the top 25 in the country. A&M’s deep breaststroke group also had a very good meet in taking 3 out of the top 4 spots in both distances. They were led by senior Bryan Snowden, who won both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes in season best times of 55.79/2:02.09 respectively. Snowden is a good pick for a pair of top-3 finishes for the Aggies at Big 12’s.
LSU also had great performances from their seniors including Hannes Heyl. He won both the 100 fly (48.34) and 50 free (20.36). He also had a monster 47.53 split on the butterfly leg of the medley relay. Another senior, James Meyers, won the 100 back in a very solid 49.42.
The meet certainly lived up to it’s “senior night” billing, as 10 out of the 14 individual events (including diving) were won by seniors.
“Anytime you get a win over LSU, it’s a good day. I’m glad we were able to get out of here with a win,” said A&M men’s coach Jay Holmes, speaking to how heated the rivalry is. The intensity was no doubt increased, at least in a tiny part, by LSU’s recent win over A&M in football’s Cotton Bowl.
This was A&M’s final regular-season meet of the year headed into Big 12’s. The LSU women will hold a two-day quad meet next weekend at home in Baton Rouge against Houston, Rice, and Tulane, before SEC’s beginning on February 11th. None of those schools have men’s teams, but the LSU men may join the festivities with exhibition swims.
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