Men’s Swimming and Diving preview: Texas A&M
What: Texas (7-0), who was voted a unanimous No. 1 in the CSCAA rankings released on Thursday, Jan. 25, makes its final regular season appearance of the season when it hosts No. 24 Texas A&M in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown Where: Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center - Austin, Texas When: Saturday, Jan. 27 - 2 p.m. Central Last UT-A&M meeting: Texas defeated Texas A&M by a 165-129 count on Feb. 3, 2006 at the A&M's Student Recreation Center Natatorium in College Station, as UT coach Eddie Reese remained undefeated against the Aggies. About Texas: Texas opened its dual-meet season on Friday, Nov. 3 after winning the annual Big 12 Relays in Lincoln, Neb. The Longhorns tallied a 204-165 victory over No. 4 California and a 210-149 win over No. 12 Indiana in Austin. Freshman Ricky Berens (Charlotte, N.C.) was selected as the CollegeSwimming.com National Men's Collegiate Swimmer of the Week on Tuesday, Nov. 7 after winning all three of his individual events and recording three NCAA provisional-qualifying cuts. Berens claimed the 100 butterfly (47:81), the 200 IM (1:44.86) and the 200 butterfly (1:48.00). Texas hit the road on Friday, Nov. 10 for what proved to be a tightly-contested meet between the then third-ranked Longhorns and the 10th-ranked Florida Gators. With the score knotted at 113 heading into the meet's final event, the 400 freestyle relay, the Longhorns pulled away to the team victory behind a solid effort from junior Chris Seitz (Taylor Mill, Ky.), junior Caleb McDermott (Canyon Lake, Texas), sophomore Michael Klueh (Evansville, Ind.) and junior Matthew McGinnis (Raleigh, N.C.), finishing in 2:59.91. McGinnis and Klueh added two individual victories apiece for the Longhorns. Texas took second place at the Texas Invitational (Nov. 30-Dec. 2) with 696.50 points. Arizona, the only team to defeat Texas in a meet this season, captured the Invitational with 787 points. The top-ranked Longhorns collected nine victories en route to a 130-113 victory over four-time defending NCAA Champion Auburn on Jan. 11 at Auburn's James E. Martin Aquatic Center. The Longhorns' victory ended the third-ranked Tigers' win streak at 44 dual meets, dating back exactly six years to Jan. 11, 2001, when Texas hung the last dual-meet loss on the Tigers. Six Longhorns scored individual victories on Jan. 13 in top-ranked UT's 161-135 victory over No. 9 Georgia at UGA's Gabrielsen Natatorium. Texas completed a successful weekend road swing to push its dual-meet record to 5-0. The meet marked a battle of long-time friends and U.S. Olympic coaches, as Texas' Eddie Reese, now in his 29th season at UT, will coach the U.S. men and Georgia coach Jack Bauerle will coach the U.S. women at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Texas extended its dual-meet record to a perfect 7-0 on Jan. 20 when it finished off a stellar two-day meet with victories over No. 5 Arizona and SMU. The Longhorns knocked Arizona by a 188-165 margin and defeated SMU by a 153-96 count. UT picked up two victories apiece from junior swimmer Caleb McDermott and diver Mike Wong in the wins. UT returns 10 All-Americans from the 2005-06 squad who placed fourth at the NCAA Championships. The returning All-Americans are junior Jeremy Harris (St. Paul, Minn.); sophomore Michael Klueh (Evansville, Ind.); junior Matt Lowe (Minot, N.D.); junior Caleb McDermott (Canyon Lake, Texas); junior Matt McGinnis (Raleigh, N.C.); senior Tyler O'Halloran (Boardman, Ohio); junior Daniel Rohleder (Austin, Texas); senior Thomas Sacco (Dallas, Texas); sophomore Ryan Verlatti (Tacoma, Wash.) and senior Garrett Weber-Gale (Fox Point, Wis.), the 2006 NCAA 100-yard freestyle champion.
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