The Sun Belt Conference is like Lady Liberty of the collegiate swimming world. Instead of taking your hungry, your tired, your poor, the conference has adopted teams that have been cast aside by other conferences. Mid-American Conference doesn't want to host a meet? The Missouri Valley drops to three men's teams? No problem, the Sun Belt with teams spread across ten states, is there to adopt them.
In doing so, the Sun Belt offered one of the most competitive meets of the conference season with just 70 points separateing first through third in the women's meet and four teams within 150 on the men's side. When all was said and done, The 2008 Sun Belt Conference Swimming and Diving Championships are officially complete and the new champions of Sun Belt swimming and diving are Western Kentucky and Missouri State. The Missouri State men’s team claimed the title with 688 points and the WKU women’s team took the crown with 775 points. The Mid-American Conference scored itself separately as well. In doing so, Eastern Michigan captured its 27th all-time title with 589 points, more than the combined total of second place Miami (315.5) and third-place Buffalo (200). Ball State finished fourth (111).
The final day of competition started off with a bang as swimmers competed in the 1650 yard freestyle. Swimmers battled it out for a grueling 66 laps but in the end it was Florida Atlantic’s Lauren Shue and WKU’s Sean Penhale that claimed the gold. Shue clocked in at 16:35.90 while Penhale set a new Sun Belt championship record finishing with a time of 15:23. Both Shue and Penhale accomplished an NCAA B qualifying time in the event.
In the men’s and women’s 200 yard backstroke WKU’s Francis Gilmore and Denver’s Kelsey Totura,who was named the Women’s Most Outstanding Swimmer, were crowned champions. Gilmore broke his own previous Sun Belt championship record from 2007 and finished the race with a time of 1:47.31. Totura finished in 1:58.42 while also setting an NCAA B qualifying time.
The men’s 100 yard freestyle also saw two Sun Belt swimmers set NCAA B qualifying times while both broke the two year old Sun Belt championship record. The Men’s Most Outstanding Swimmer,Blake Worsley, won the gold and added to his list of championship honors by clocking in at 44.29 and Missouri State’s Ignacio Gayo won second with a time of 44.41
The 100 yard freestyle went to Florida Atlantic’s Bianca Murphy. Murphy finished with a time of 50.98.
In the women’s 200 yard breaststroke, two more swimmers accomplished NCAA B qualifying times when Denver’s Grace Kittle and Florida International’s Sara Giovannoni finished with times of 2:13.85 and 2:14.80 respectively. Kittle won the gold and Giovannoni took the silver.
In addition, Missouri State freshman Cajun Skinner added to the list of NCAA B qualifying times set this weekend when he accomplished the feat in the men’s 200 yard breaststroke. Skinner’s time of 2:00.48 was also good enough for first place in the event and was also good enough to break the previous Sun Belt championship record set in 2007.
The last individual events of the weekend were the men’s and women’s 200 yard butterfly. The women’s top finisher was WKU’s Claire Donahue and the men’s top finisher was Missouri State’s Victor Serra. Donahue and Serra finished with times of 2:01.26 and 1:47.35 respectively while both posting NCAA B qualifying times.
Finally in the last relays of the championships, the 400 freestyle relays, Southern Illinois’ men’s team and Denver’s women’s team took top honors finishing with time of 3:00.69 and 3:24.80. The Denver team set another championship record to end the day.
In the women’s one meter diving competition WKU’s Emily Waits dove to the gold accumulating 249.15 points. Florida Atlantic’s Sami Schlachterman was named the Most Outstanding Diver.
Denver’s head coach Brian Schrader won the Men’s Head Coach of the Year while North Texas’ Joe Dykstra won Women’s Coach of the Year. Denver diving coach added to the list of honors for the Pioneers as he was named the Men’s Diving Coach of the Year and WKU’s Bob Benson was honored as the Women’s Diving Coach of the Year. Denver’s Aaron Feight, the Sun Belt Conference three and one meter diving champion, was voted the Men’s Most Outstanding Diver.
Women's Team Scores
1. WKU 775
2. Florida Atlantic 725
3. Denver 705
4. North Texas 549
5. Florida International 274
6. New Orleans 226
7. UALR 72
Men's Team Scores
1 Missouri State 688
2 Denver 654
3 Eastern Michigan 589
4 Western Kentucky 539.5
5 Southern Illinois 347
6 Miami (Ohio) 315.5
7 Buffalo 200
8 Florida Atlantic 121
9 Ball State 111
10 Evansville 108
Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year: Brian Schrader, Denver
Men’s Diving Coach of the Year: Erik Cook, Denver
Men’s Most Outstanding Swimmer: Blake Worsley, Denver
Men’s Most Outstanding Diver: Aaron Feight, Denver
Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year: Joe Dykstra, North Texas
Women’s Diving Coach of the Year: Bob Benson, WKU
Women’s Most Outstanding Swimmer: Kelsey Totura, Denver
Women’s Most Outstanding Diver: Sami Schlachterman, Florida Atlantic
