SMU Leads Both Meets At Conference USA Championships
SMU Women's Swimming And Diving In First Place After Day One Of C-USA Championships
SMU women's swimming and diving is in first place at the Conference USA Championships held in Houston, Texas at the CRWC Natatorium on Wednesday, February 25 after setting a new meet and school record in the 200 medley relay on their way to a first place finish.
SMU began the night by setting a new record in the 200 medley relay. The team of freshman Therese Svendsen, junior Devon Callaghan, sophomore Elzanne Werth and senior Petra Klosova smashed the old record, which was set by the Mustangs in 2006, by almost three seconds, touching the wall in 1:38.08, good for an NCAA `B' qualifying time.
In the night's final event, the 800-yard freestyle relay, SMU once again touched the wall first. The Mustangs' senior Candace Blackman, sophomore Sasha Van den Branden, Klosova and freshman Christy-Leigh Lategan finished in 7:07, 11 seconds ahead of second place Rice (7:18.01).
The Mustangs return to action, with the meet resuming at 10 a.m., Thursday with the preliminaries of the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley and the 50-yard freestyle. The women's 3-meter diving preliminaries will begin around 1 p.m. The finals for those events are slated to begin around 6 p.m.
Mustangs In First Place After Day One
SMU men's swimming and diving is currently in first place with a score of 114 at Conference USA Championships at the CRWC Natatorium in Houston, Texas on Wednesday, February 25 after posting wins in the 200 medley and 800 free relays, and the one-meter springboard.
SMU touched in first in the 200 medley relay with a NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 1:26.96, almost two seconds ahead of Hawaii. The Mustangs' strong performance was led by junior Pontus Renholm, senior Grega Plevelj, senior Luka Vrtovec, and junior Thomas Fadnes.
Sophomore Matthew Culbertson claimed the one-meter springboard title, smashing the competition with a score of 335 which qualified Culbertson for NCAA Zone Diving Championships.
SMU finished the night with a NCAA provisional-qualifying time in the 800 free relay. Freshman Robin Andreasson, junior Ed Downes, freshman Walter Rumans, and junior Maverick Smalley posted a first place finish with a time of 6:30.00.
The Mustangs return to the pool on Thursday to participate in the 50 and 500 free events, as well as the 200 IM.
Houston Swimming and Diving in Second Place After Day One of C-USA Championships
The University of Houston swimming and diving team finished day one of the Conference USA Championships in second place with 62 points. SMU leads with 80 points and two event wins.
The team of Jessica Shamburger, Beccy Hillis, Andrea Kells and Paige Bissett finished fourth in the 200-yard medley relay, the first event of the C-USA Championships, with a time of 1:42.26.
In the 800-yard freestyle relay, the team of Sasha Schwendenwein, Kimberley Eeson, Olga Bordatcheva and Andrea Pa’lmai finished third with a time of 7:21.60.
The Cougars will be back at the CRWC Thursday to compete in the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle, 3-meter diving and 400-yard medley relay. Thursday’s events will begin at 6 p.m., with the preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m.
Houston looks to improve on last season’s fourth-place finish at this season’s 2009 championships. Courtney Forcucci was named the C-USA Diver of the Meet, while Jane Figueiredo was named C-USA Diving Coach of the Year for the fifth-straight year and seventh all-time in her career.
Rice Swimmers Set Two School Records Wednesday At C-USA Championship Meet
With two new school records in the only two events of the day, the Rice swim team is in second place after the first day of competition at the 2009 Conference USA Swimming and Diving Championships Wednesday night across town at the University of Houston Recreation Center Natatorium.
It may be only the first day of competition, and in fact only two of the 19 events on the full championship schedule were held on Wednesday night, but it's also a fact the Owls were extremely sharp in their events. The Blue & Gray foursome of Angela Wo, Pam Zelnick, Skylar Craig and Carlyann Miller blazed to a new school record in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:41.98 to take third place overall.
Rice rode the success of its 200-medley to an even better result in the 800-freestyle relay. Owls Erin Mattson, Nicole Delaloye, Shelby Bottoms and Caitlin Warner took second in the event with a new school record time of 7:18.01.
After the two relays, SMU leads the team scoring with 80 points. The Owls are second with 66 points. North Dakota is third with 64 points and host Houston is fourth with 62. East Carolina (56), Marshall (52), Northern Colorado (48) and Cal Bakersfield (22) round out the early team standings.
