Texas A&M
The Battalion Sports
Wednesday, April 6, 1983/The Battalion/Page 13
A&M swimmers at USS meet
’
ash takes
oup of 18
by Tracy Johnston
Battalion Reporter
he Texas A&M’s men’s and
ten’s swimming teams will
ipete at the United States
railing Championships in
ianapolis, Ind., today
mgh Saturday.
iix women and 12 men will
nfor the Aggies in their final
petition of the season. Head
ch Mel Nash says he’s
ised to bring such a large
up to the championships.
|“During my first couple of
sat A&M,” Nash said, “we
had one or two swimmers
ify for the nationals. Last
we had nine and this year
ave 18 swimmers that qual-
for the meet.
This is my fourth year as
1 coach and for the first
, all of the swimmers on the
i were recruited by me. It
bs to be fitting into my 10-
game plan very well.”
fany of the Aggies will he
petingin their first national
t but Nash says that they
™ uld do well regardless of in-
“■ erience.
^ For as young of a team as we
1 am very pleased to have
lifted so many for the meet,”
aid. “This is the first taste of
onal swimming for a lot of
n, but I’m looking for some
riE d performances and we
allltl uld be able to score some
its."
nB[l he preliminaries will be held
he mornings. The fastest 16
eswill advance to the finals,
"F chwill be held at night. Only
top 16 finishers score points.
ito®everal of the Aggies com-
?d in the NCAA swimming
ul ®mpionships two weeks ago,
hkh featured the best collegi-
'
Texas A&M swimmer Rick Walker, shown here during
the SWC meet, and 17 other Aggie swimmers are in
| I *
■: 'WP' >"■ ,
photo by Peter Rocha
Indianapolis, Ind., this week for the U.S. Swimming
Championships. The meet begins today.
ate swimmers in the nation.
“There is always a psycholo
gical letdown that you have to be
prepared for after the NCAAs.
That’s our job to prepare them
for it, to face up to it, and to
overcome it,” Nash said.
Freshman Chris O’Neil
earned all-America honors with
his sixth-place finish in the 100-
yard butterfly at the NCAAs. He
is the first all-America swimmer
at Texas A&M in 26 years.
O’Neil will swim in the 100- and
200-yard butterfly events for the
Aggies.
Senior co-captain Rick Wal
ker will be competing in the final
swimming events of his career.
Walker will swim the 200-, 500-
On the other hand, I’ve been in
it for 16 years and I’m ready to
move on to other things.
“My career at A&M has been
very rewarding. It’s been very
satisfying to be part of a team
that is building into a national
power. It will be nice to look
back and say that I contributed
and helped build a good team,”
and 1000-yard freestyle events
along with the 400-yard indi
vidual medley.
“I’ve been swimming for a
long time and I would like to go
out in style,” Walker said. “Right
now I have mixed emotions. I’m
sorry to see it end, but I have
gotten so much out of the sport.
See SWIM page 15
Aggie golf team
among ‘friends’
at A All tourney
by Frank L. Christlieb
Battalion Staff
By this point in the college golf season, several nationally
ranked teams have gotten to know each other like next-door
neighbors.
Week in and week out this spring, these squads have come
together to compete in golf tournaments in and out of the
country. The teams — five in number — have learned both the
strengths and weaknesses of their “neighbors” as a result of the
similar tournaments they’ve played in.
Somehow, Texas A&M, Texas, Houston, Oklahoma State
and Oklahoma nearly always wind up in the same tourneys, no
matter where they’re played.
For example, at the Columbia Lakes Intercollegiate in West
Columbia on Feb. 6-7, Texas won, Houston finished second,
Texas A&M was third and Oklahoma was fourth. At the Pan
American Intercollegiate in Monterrey, Mexico on Feb. 10-12,
Texas won, OSU placed second and Texas A&M was fourth.
And at the Henry Homberg Intercollegiate on Feb. 25-27,
Texas won, UH was second, Texas A&M finished fourth, Okla
homa was fifth and Oklahoma State wound up sixth.
Get the picture? If not, then take a look at the field of the 29th
annual All-America Intercollegiate Invitational golf tourna
ment, which starts today at Houston’s Bear Creek Golf World.
The 30-team field includes five of the nation’s top six teams,
according to the most recent poll released by the Golf Coaches
Association of America. The five schools, in order of their
ranking, aren’t difficult to guess: No. 1 Texas, No. 2 OSU, No. 3
Houston, No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 6 Oklahoma.
This year’s All-America, which is the final tournament for
Texas A&M and its SWC opponents before the conference
tourney on April 14-17 at Columbia Lakes, has been billed by
Cougar golf coach Dave Williams as “The College Masters.”
Williams, UH’s coach for the past 31 years, says the tournament
will be as strong as in the past.
“It’s got to be one of the most exciting golf events in the
America,” Williams said Tuesday. “This year the competition
will be strong since we have five of the top six teams in the nation
at the tournament.”
Bob Ellis, the Aggies’ coach, said a strong showing this week
will help his squad at the conference tournament.
“We need to play well this weekend in order to be prepared
for next weekend’s Southwest Conference tournament,” Ellis
said. “We’ve been playing good golf but we haven’t been very
consistent this year.”
While the Cougars won last year’s national title, the Aggies
finished fourth and Oklahoma State was third. Texas, which
See GOLFERS page 15
NOW IS THE TIME
Summer and Fall Preleasing
is now in progress at THE most sought
after addresses in College Station.
ini
l i,r |
If you missed...
January — Nacho cookoff
with margaritas
February — Racquetball Tournament
Valentines couple drawing
March — Drawing for hot air balloon ride
Outdoor concert
Don't Miss...
April — Superstars competition
Spring dance w/Carribean cruise for 2
drawing
May — Kegs by the pool
June — 2nd annual watermelon extravaganza
July — Games picnic
August — End of the summer celebration
September — Softball Tournament
October — Pregame warmup parties
November — Bonfire bash
December — Christmas parties & contests
ctMufauee
Yu/
SC/aim/ax Sevilla
693-4242
TA0S Aurora Gardens
693-6505
Brownstone
696-9771