Credit to Rachel Perreault | Director, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
SANTIAGO, Chile — Ten current student-athletes and Aggies pros concluded swimming & diving competition at the Pan American Games Wednesday, tallying five medals through the meet.
Aggie pro Sydney Pickrem returned to Pan Ams for the first time since 2015 and held nothing back as she claimed two gold medals and helped Canada’s 4x200m free relay team bring home a bronze medal with a big swim in prelims. Pickrem set a new Pan Ams record and clocked the second-fastest time in the world this season, going 2:09.04 in the 200m IM to close out the meet with a gold medal. She made her first trip to the podium after touching the wall first in the 200m breast with a time of 2:23.39.
Miranda Grana, who recently earned SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week honors after making her collegiate debut in September, also finished the meet on the medal stand as she helped Mexico earn bronze in the 4x100m medley relay with a time of 4:04.73. She added a fifth-place finish in the 100m back with a time of 1:01.51. Despite finishing atop the B final in the 200m back, her time of 2:14.49 was the sixth-fastest overall in the final.
Aggie pro Andres Puente rounded out the medal winners for A&M at Pan Ams, claiming bronze in the 200m breast with a time of 2:11.99. He posted a new personal best to place ninth in the 100m breast on day one with a time of 1:01.18.
Senior Sarah Szklaruk Traipe and sophomores Joslyn Oakley and Maximiliano Vega Cuevas, along with freshman Roberto Bonilla Flores were also in action at Pan Ams. Szklaruk Traipe helped lower the then-Chilean national record in the 4x200m free relay in prelims with a time of 8:33.60. She earned a spot in the 200m back finals and added top-25 finishes in the 50m free, 100m back and 200m IM. Oakley, competing for Team USA, advanced to the 1-meter springboard finals and finished with a fifth-place score of 240.95. Vega Cuevas was a key prelim swimmer on multiple relays for Mexico and individually posted a time of 4:23.34 to take eighth in the 400m IM. Bonilla Flores set a new Guatemalan national record with a big time drop in the 200m breast, going 2:14.34 in the final to place sixth. He also finished atop the B final in the 400m IM with a time of 4:23.20.
Aggie pros Angel Martinez, Hector Ruvalcaba and McKenna DeBever rounded out the A&M swimmers at Pan Ams. Martinez posted a seventh-place time of 53.73 in the 100m fly final, while also contributing on relays for Mexico. Ruvalcaba placed fourth in the 200m fly (1:58.63), adding top-12 finishes in the 200m free (1:51.39) and 200m IM (2:04.59). DeBever closed out the meet in the 200m IM final, placing eighth with a time of 2:18.28, and added a seventh-place finish in the 200m back, going 2:17.43.