DU Men’s and Women’s Swimming Leads SBC Championships

The University of Denver men’s and women’s swimming teams led all Sun Belt Conference Schools on the first day of the SBC/Mid-American Conference Championships held at the Centennial SportsPlex/Tracy Caulkins Pool in Nashville, Tenn.
 
The women finished with a score 120, leading all teams from the SBC and the MAC. Following closely behind was Western Kentucky and Florida Atlantic University with 116 and 108 points, respectively. On the men’s side, the Pioneers lead the SBC schools with 148 points and are third overall behind Miami (Ohio) (180) and Eastern Michigan (162) of the MAC.
 
“I am very pleased with our start tonight,” said head coach Brian Schrader.  “Our relays teams posted some great times and were able to set some new records, leaving their marks in the DU records books. Our seniors did a great job leading us during our first day of competition.”
 
In the first final of the day, the women’s 200 Medley Relay, the Pioneers’ A team of sophomore Katy Motsinger (Charleston, S.C.), freshman Emily Kuhr (Littleton, Colo.), sophomore Hayley Ettelson (San Diego, Calif.) and freshman Kristen Schmid (Aurora, Colo.) finished second with a time of 1:42.77, setting a new school record. Denver finished behind Western Kentucky’s A team that finished with a time of 1:41.02.
 
On the men’s side, Denver’s A team of senior Daniel Vollmer (Ajax, Ontario), senior Nicholas Brunger (Castle Rock, Colo.), sophomore Garth Summers (Portland, Ore.) and sophomore Scott Madaras (Yorktown, Va.) finished in second place with a time of 1:29.36, setting a new school record. The Pioneers finished behind Missouri State’s team that finished with a time of 1:27.55. Western Kentucky rounded out the top-three with a time of 1:29.52.
 
Denver’s women’s squad of sophomore Melissa Greeves (Melbourne, Australia), senior Michele Lowry (Hailey, Idaho), freshman Jackie Leung (Gresham, Ore.) and junior Olivia Dean (Aurora, Colo.), claimed first place in the 800 Yard Freestyle Relay, clocking in at 7:16.43, which was good enough for an NCAA Division I B cut, as well as a new Sun Belt Conference Championship record and Denver Pioneer record.  North Texas took second place with its time of 7:21.90, followed by Florida Atlantic which registered a time of 7:25.81.
 
The Denver men were in sync with its female counterparts, also earning first place in the 800 Yard Freestyle Relay, with their own NCAA B-cut and Sun Belt record time of 6:26.01. The Pioneers’ time also sets a new DU record. SIU picked up second place in the event with a time of 6:36.02, followed by WKU with its time of 6:36.22. The men’s team was comprised of senior Blake Worsley (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), freshman Clayton Myers (Aurora, Colo.), Madaras and Summers.
 
Action will continue tomorrow as all swimmers will take to the pool for the 500 Freestyle, 200 IM, 50 Freestyle, women’s 3M diving and the 200 Freestyle Relay.
 
On Friday will be the 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Backstroke, men’s 1M diving and the 400 Medley Relay. Action will conclude on Saturday with the 1650 Freestyle, 200 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly, women’s 1M diving and the 400 Freestyle Relay.

DU Diver Aaron Feight Wins Fourth Consecutive SBC Crown
Senior diver Aaron Feight (Littleton, Colo.) posted a score of 395.90 to lead the Pioneers and grab his fourth consecutive 3M diving crown on the first day of the Mid-American/Sun Belt Conference Championships at the Centennial SportsPlex in Nachville, Tenn.
 
Feight finished in second place overall, behind Chris Heaton of Miami (Ohio) of the MAC, making him the top-finisher for the SBC and giving him his fourth 3M diving crown of his Denver career. Heaton finished with a final score of 411.10, while Jimmy Beres, also from Miami (Ohio), finished in third with a final score of 358.10.
 
Junior Cody Stambaugh (Denver, Colo.) finished just outside of qualifying for the finals as he finished ninth with a final score of 297.20 during the preliminaries. The top-eight finishers advanced to the finals. Also diving for the Pioneers was freshman Sth McNew (Lakewood, Colo.) as he finished with a score of 242.10 in the preliminaries, ranking him 17th overall.
 
The Pioneer women will compete in the 3M event tomorrow, while the men will begin the 1M diving on Friday. The women will close out the SBC championships on Saturday with the 1M diving event.

WKU Swimming And Diving Claims One First Place On Day One Of SBC Championships
On the first day of the Sun Belt Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, the men’s and women’s teams had an impressive showing taking finishing first in one race and picking up two third place finishes and a fourth place finish.

In the first event of the night, the 200 medley relay, the women’s team dominated the competition taking first place in the race with a time of 1:41.02 while also setting a new SBC Championship record.  The team of Stepanie Terrell, Brittany Doss and Jenn Adams defeated second place Denver who finished with a time of 1:42.77.

In the same event, the men’s team took home third place after touching the wall in 1:29.52.  The team of Cameron Watkins, Cameron Brown, Lukasz Herbst and Kyle Johnson, came in behind Missouri State, who took first place and Denver who finished second.

In the 800 meter freestyle relay, the WKU women finished fourth with a time of 7:27.33 while the men took third place with a final time of 6:36.22, which was good enough for an NCAA “B” Cut and a new WKU school record.

The WKU swimming and diving teams continue action tomorrow with prelims starting at 11 a.m. CST and finals beginning at 7 p.m.

North Texas Breaks Three School Records On Day One
The North Texas swimming & diving team broke three school records during day one of the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Nashville, Tennessee. The Mean Green sit in fourth place, just two points behind Florida Atlantic for third heading into day two.

Denver is the leader with 120 points followed by Western Kentucky. After North Texas, New Orleans stands fifth then Florida International and Arkansas-Little Rock.

"We swam well today and we're not too far off sitting in fourth," said NT head coach Joe Dykstra. "The eight swimmers that competed today all swam personal best times. I thought what we did in the 800 Free Relay was amazing. The team and I are excited about what we can accomplish in tomorrow's events."

The highlights for the Mean Green were the 200 Medley Relay and 800 Freestyle Relay teams both setting new school marks along with Alicia Hale in the leadoff leg of the 800 Relay.

The 200 Medley Relay team of Nicole Leslie, Brandi Townsend, Rosa Gentile, and Seabre Pope set the new school record by about a second and a half (1:44.40). The former record (1:45.99) was set at last year's SBC Championships. The second-place 800 Free Relay team of Alicia Hale, Emily Floyd, Angie Dworschack, and Erika Roach finished with a time of 7:21.90. This mark surpassed the previous record by almost nine seconds. In the leadoff leg of the relay, Alicia Hale broke her own school record for the 200 Freestyle (1:49.86). Hale had set the old time (1:50.27) at the SBC Championships last year.

Day two will have five total events including the 50 and 500 Freestyles, the 200 Individual Medley, the 200 Freestyle Relay, and the women's three-meter dive.