COLLEGE STATION, TX -- The Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving team was ranked No. 21 in the initial College Swimming Coaches Association of America Div. I Team Rankings of the 2012-13 season.
The Aggies were one of eight teams from the Southeastern Conference in the CSCAA poll, which is voted on by nine CSCAA-member coaches and one media member. SEC teams joining the Aggies in the top 25 are No. 1 Florida, No. 6 Auburn, tNo. 9 Georgia, No. 12 South Carolina, No. 20 Alabama, No. 22 LSU and No. 24 Tennessee. The Aggies are set to compete against the top-ranked Gators in Gainesville, Fla., on Nov. 2.
Texas A&M has a strong group of returnees from last year's squad that finished 13th at the 2012 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. It was the Aggies' 17th straight top 25 finish at the NCAA Championships, including A&M's fifth straight 15 finish.
The Aggies return 24 lettermen and lost just five letter-winners from the 2011-12 squad. Among the returnees are six swimmers or divers that earned All-America status at the 2012 NCAA Championships. Leading the way is senior John Dalton, who joined former Big 12 Swimmer of the Year Matt Rose as the only Aggies to earn six All-America certificates at one national meet. Other 2012 All-Americans returning are juniors Hayden Jones, John Wagner, Paul-Marc Schweitzer, Kyle Troskot and sophomore Luke Shaw.
Boosting the Aggies in 2012-13 will be the healthy return of junior Omar Enriquez, who owns school records in the 500-, 1,000-, and 1,650-yard freestyles. Other individual school record holders returning this season are Dalton (50 free) and junior Simon Frank (200- and 400-yard IM). Among the relay school records, three of four legs return for both the 400 free relay (Dalton, junior Henrik Lindau and Troskot) and the 800 free relay (Schweitzer, Dalton and Wagner).
