The No. 23 SMU women's swim team dominated rival TCU, 135-86, winning 10 of the evening's 12 events on Senior Night Wednesday at Perkins Natatorium. With the win, the Mustangs are now 4-1 in dual meets this season.
Captain Nina Rangelova won both the 200- and 500-yard freestyles. The junior All-American swam the 200 in a time of 1:51.55 and clocked in with a mark of 4:56.97 in the 500.
Sophomore Nathalie Lindborg earned a pair of wins in the sprint freestyle events. Lindborg won the 50-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 23.30. She took first in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.28.
Sophomore All-American Isabella Arcila also claimed two individual wins, earning first in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard backstroke with times of 2:04.69 and 2:01.55, respectively. Senior Deanna Matthews earned runner-up honors in the 200-yard backstroke with a mark of 2:04.31.
Fellow sophomore All-American and reigning C-USA Swimmer of the Week Rachel Nicol continued her stellar season with another victory in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:15.78). Sophomore All-American Erica Donadon came in second in the event (2:20.04).
Freshman Danielle Villars placed first with a time of 2:04.12 in the 200-yard butterfly.
The Mustangs bookended the meet by earning huge points with wins in the relays. In the 400-yard medley relay, Arcila, Nicol, Villars and Monika Babok led SMU to a win in 3:43.42. The squad of Lindborg, Villars, Babok and Rangelova closed out the meet by completing the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:26.13.
SMU heads to Austin, Texas, to face No. 6 Arizona and No. 7 Texas Feb. 1 and 2.
TCU’s women’s swimming and diving team fell to No. 23 SMU 135-86 Wednesday night at Perkins Natatorium. The loss drops the Horned Frogs to 3-2 on the season.
“SMU has a really good team,” TCU head coach Richard Sybesma said. “It is a tough loss, especially coming off last weekend’s very good win. We are kind of fatigued from the busy schedule, but I still thought we competed well. We will be better on Friday.”
The standout performance of the evening came in the diving well from senior Katie Lybbert. The Argyle, Texas native posted a career-high score of 304.95 in the 3-meter diving competition. With that effort, Lybbert became the fourth diver in TCU history to break the 300-point mark on a six-dive list. Lybbert joins Kelly Crowell, Jennifer Ferguson and Kelly Seely in that group.
In the pool, the wins were tough to come by, but there were promising performances as the season winds down. The freshman duo of Sara Brzozowski and Mikayla Winkler had notable performances in the 500 free. Brzozowski finished second in a time of 4:59.44, and Winkler took fourth in 5:02.85.
“Getting under five minutes in a regular dual meet is a tough job,” Sybesma noted. “We are pleased with how Sara did, and Mikayla deserves credit for her effort as well.”
Katie Scarsella posted two individual second place finishes in the 100 free (52.35) and 200 free (1:52.12). She was joined by Sabine Rasch, Winkler and Parris Schoppa on the second place 400 free relay group that finished second in 3:30.56.
Ali Bleasdell posted a second place effort in the 200 IM (2:05.01). Maggie Burkhardt touched the wall in second in the 200 fly (2:06.79). Lizzy Oster also recorded a solid time in the 200 back, finishing third in 2:07.31.
TCU returns to competition Friday with a home dual meet against Texas at 4:30 p.m. Prior to the men’s and women’s dual meet at 4:15 p.m., the Horned Frogs will recognized the seniors for their contributions to the TCU program.
