Texas A&M coach Steve Bultman calls it the snowball effect. Swimming teams -- it was the Aggie women on Saturday -- start fast and roll over strong opposition.
The snowball that hit Auburn must have felt like it had a boulder in it.
A&M's sixth-ranked women won the first six events and rode the momentum to a 169-129 victory over eighth-ranked Auburn in a dual swimming and diving meet at the Texas A&M Student Rec Center Natatorium.
Senior Julia Wilkinson finished first in three individual events and contributed a strong leadoff leg to help the Aggies win the opening 200-yard medley relay as A&M beat Auburn for the first time.
"Basically, dual meets are about winning events," Wilkinson said. "Getting your hand on the wall [for] third and fourth, that's important, too, but there's so many points if you win. I think in the first half we were just win, win, win and win, and we kind of ran away with it."
The Aggie women won both sides of a double dual meet, beating 19th-ranked Southern Methodist 172-110 in an impressive return from the holiday break.
In the men's competition, defending NCAA champion Auburn defeated A&M 159-136 despite a strong showing by Aggie Omar Enriquez. The freshman from Mexico produced two wins and a second-place finish while swimming in three of the most grueling events, both freestyle distance races and the 200 butterfly.
Enriquez stalked Auburn's Stuart Ferguson for most of the butterfly, then charged in the last 50 yards to win in 1 minute, 50.56 seconds.
Finishing strong was a theme for the Aggie women, who rallied to win several events. Strong closing kicks earned A&M victories by Kristen Heiss in the 200 freestyle (1:48.23), Emily Neal in the 200 backstroke (1:59.20) and tiny Rita Medrano in the 200 butterfly (1:59.03).
"We finished our races very, very well," Bultman said. "It tells me that they're in shape and they're swimming smart races."
A&M spent the last two weeks training hard, preparing for future competitions as much as for Saturday.
"It's a confidence boost on two levels," Wilkinson said. "We've never beaten Auburn, so it is kind of cool for me as a senior to be able to leave saying we beat them. Also, people putting up really, really good times even though they're exhausted just lets you know that they're going to go that much faster."
A&M's strong freshmen distance swimmers picked up where they left off during an impressive fall season. Plano West's Maureen McLaine and Liz Nelson of College Park finished 1-2 in the 1,650 and 500 freestyle tests.
Wilkinson and fellow senior Alia Atkinson set the pace for the youngsters. Wilkinson won the 100 backstroke (53.67), 100 freestyle (49.24) and the 200 individual medley (1:59.42). Atkinson claimed both breaststroke events, winning the 100 in 1:01.98 and taking the 200 with a time of 2:13.41.
"Julia had a very good day," Bultman said. "Her backstroke's looking really good right now. Her leading off the [200 medley] relay in 25-flat, that's big."
The fifth-ranked Auburn men led most of the way against the No. 19 Aggies. The Tigers took control by claiming the top three spots in the 100 breaststroke and then finishing 2-3-4 behind Enriquez (1:50.56) in the 200 butterfly.
"The 200 fly was the one I thought he'd have a hard time winning, and he just got up and raced," A&M men's coach Jay Holmes said. "That's what he does really well. He's got a great heart in him. He loves to race."
Enriquez won the punishing 1,650 freestyle at 15:33.84. He took second in the 500 with a time of 4:29.92, less than a second behind Auburn senior William Dove.
The A&M men's other victories came from Australian Grant Nel in the 3-meter springboard diving and Hungarian Balazs Makany in the 200 freestyle. Holmes raved about both wins, noting that Nel (428.4 points) beat 2009 NCAA runner-up Kelly Marx (397.28), and that Makany won what usually is one of Auburn's strong events.
"Balazs wanted it more than the Auburn swimmers," Holmes said. "That's the only reason he won. He probably shouldn't have won it."
Both A&M teams will swim at Louisiana State on Jan. 23.
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