The 2008 Conference USA Swimming and Diving Championship concluded Saturday night at the CRWC Natatorium on the campus of the University of Houston with SMU claiming its third consecutive C-USA crown. The Mustangs rolled to another dominant victory, scoring 926 points overall. SMU's point tally is the most ever earned in C-USA Women's Swimming & Diving Championship history, eclipsing the previous record of 906 set by East Carolina in 2003. The Mustang men also won the C-USA Men's Invitational. SMU posted 968.5 points for their 12th straight conference title. Hawai'i finished second with 819 points, while East Carolina claimed third with 651.5 and Cal State Bakersfield took fourth with 448 points.
The league championship is the 12th consecutive overall for the SMU women and the team set 11 meet and pool records en route to winning 15 swimming events and the team's first C-USA diving title during the four-day meet.
"Tonight we put the finishing touches on an outstanding meet," said SMU Men's coach Eddie Sinnott. "The evening was marked by Alex's 200 breast performance and Nate's 200 fly. Nate swam with a lot of heart and gave us a really big win. The divers did great on the platform and we had a fast relay to top it off. We're positioned to finish the year with the exciting opportunity to score in all five relays at NCAAs, which we haven't done in many years. I think we're set up well. We have a month to go and in that time, we need to stay healthy and wise. It will be exciting to see how we match up with the rest of the country. This meet was seven sessions well-executed. The seniors did a great job of leading us tonight and it was fun to watch. It's fun to coach this team."
Rice finished in second place with 635 points and East Carolina came in third with 518. The host Cougars finished fourth with 431 points, followed by Marshall with 365. First-year Women's Invitation members Northern Colorado (275) and Cal State Bakersfield (201) finished in sixth and seventh, respectively.
SMU head coach Steve Collins was happy with his team's performance and knows how important conference championship meets are.
"It is important for our program and our university to do well in conference meets," Collins said. "It was a great opportunity for us to swim fast and qualify our swimmers for NCAAs. I think as an unofficial count we qualified nine for the meet, so that's really good. The divers will qualify in 10 days and both of them are doing really well. I'm proud of our girls' team spirit and unity. Those are the qualities that make us a really special team."
The Mustangs closed the championship with their fourth record of the night and 11th of the championship when the team of Jennifer Blackman, Candace Blackman, Sascha Van den Braden and Angela San Juan Cisneros took the 400-yard freestyle relay title in an NCAA `A' qualifying time of 3:18.30. Rice took second in an NCAA `B' time of 3:23.19, while East Carolina took third in 3:27.53.
SMU's Justine Clark claimed another individual title for her team in one of the evening's most exciting and closest finals when she just out-touched Houston's Sasha Schwendenwein by .08 seconds to win gold in the 200-yard butterfly. Clark's time of 2:01.15 made the NCAA `B' cut, while Schwendenwein's 2:01.23 was also an NCAA `B' mark, a new personal best and the fourth fastest time in UH history. East Carolina's Amanda Duncan finished third in 2:04.87.
Jenny Basel of SMU took down her own record set just a year ago in the 200-yard breaststroke when she finished in 2:14.14, good for an NCAA `A' qualification time. Sophomore teammate Devon Callaghan was second in 2:15.92, an NCAA `B' qualifying mark, while last night's 100 breast winner Michaela Sceli of Marshall finished third with an NCAA `B' time of 2:16.28.
The Mustangs claimed the top five places in the 100-yard freestyle with 2007 C-USA Swimmer of the Year Pertra Klosova taking the gold in 48.76, good for an NCAA `A' qualifying time and a new meet and pool record. Twin sisters Jennifer (48.90) and Candace Blackman (49.47) touched the wall in second and third, respectively. Jennifer's time made the NCAA `A' qualifying standard, while Candace's made the NCAA `B' qualifying mark.
San Juan Cisneros (49.81) and Van den Branden (50.27) claimed fourth and fifth, while both making the NCAA `B' qualifying mark.
Anja Carman of SMU set the night's first meet and pool record, when she touched first in 1:55.09 in the 200-yard backstroke. The time was an NCAA `A' qualifying mark. Nan Liu (2:00.54) of invitational member Northern Colorado finished second in an NCAA `B' qualifying time, while Andrea Pa'lmai of host Houston came in third with a season-best time of 2:01.58.
Houston had another successful night during the diving event as the Cougars took first, second and fourth place in the platform competition. Lacey Truelove took first place with an NCAA `A' qualifying score of 282.00 points, while teammate Ginni van Katwijk was second with an NCAA `B' score if 255.05. SMU freshman Audra Egenolf claimed the bronze, scoring 247.55 points. Egenolf's mark was also an NCAA `B' qualifying score.
Friday's finals began with three-time C-USA Swimmer of the Week Brittany Massengale of Rice taking gold in the 1,650-yard freestyle. The senior finished in a season-best NCAA `A' qualifying time of 16:17.73 to claim 20 points for the Owls. SMU senior Katie Roberts finished in second in 16:46.98, good for NCAA `B' consideration, while Rice junior Caitlin Warner touched in third (17:03.36).
In addition to the team awards, individual awards were also handed out that were voted upon by the league coaches. SMU and Houston split the four women's awards with the Mustangs' Steve Collins and J Blackman taking Women's Swimming Coach of the Year and Women's Swimmer of the Meet, respectively. Jane Figueiredo of UH was named Women's Diving Coach of the Year and Cougar Courtney Forcucci was named Women's Diver of the Meet.
On the men's side SMU also took the swimming awards as Eddie Sinnott was voted Men's Swimming Coach of the Year and Alex Hetland garnered Men's Swimmer of the Meet. The diving awards were swept by Hawai'i with Magnus Frick taking Men's Diver of the Meet award and Anita Rossing claiming Men's Diving Coach of the Year.
C-USA teams will now turn their focus towards the NCAA Championship, which will take place March 20-22 at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio, hosted by Ohio State University.
