Conference USA swimmers invaded Knoxville as the 2015 C-USA Swimming and Diving Championships began on Wednesday night at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center. Two-time defending champions Rice and WKU are tied at 74 atop the leaderboard after each winning an event, with FIU in third with 64.
Rice's pursuit for a three-peat began by posting the top time in the competition's first event, the 200-yard medley relay. The Owls' ensemble of freshman Alicia Caldwell and seniors Rachel Moody, Casey Clark and Marissa Konicke touched the wall at 1:38.11, followed by WKU at 1:38.72.
The Hilltoppers bounced back in the day's third event, the 800-yard freestyle relay, winning in thrilling fashion. Finishing just .09 of a second ahead of runners-up Rice, seniors Susan Marquess and Allie Duff teamed with junior Michelle Craddock and freshman Sydney King to establish the best time of 7:12.21. FIU placed third in both events.
In the men's invitational, Florida Atlantic and Old Dominion each hold a share of first with 74 points. The Monarchs secured a first-place finish in the 200-medley relay at 1:29.35. The Owls capped off opening night with a commanding triumph in the 800-freestyle relay by jumping out to an early lead and coasting to victory at 6:32.93.
Competition will start back up at 10:30 a.m. ET tomorrow, followed by finals at 6 p.m. ET.
Florida International
The FIU swimming and diving team completed day one of the Conference USA Championships with two relay events taking place. The Panthers sit in third place overall, 10 points behind leaders Rice and Western Kentucky.
“Today was a good start to the meet for us,” said Head Coach Randy Horner. “We swam fast even though we fell short on our goals to win at least one relay tonight. The school record in the medley relay was solid and we made some experience errors in the 800 free relay. That is one race you have to be disciplined and we were a bit amped up. We will be ready to go tomorrow in prelims."
Freshman Silvia Scalia, senior Klara Andersson, freshman Letizia Bertelli and sophomore Jennifer Deist earned a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay, posting a school-record time of 1:39.28. The group’s time of breaks the previous mark of 1:41.78, earned by Scalia, Andersson, Deist and freshman Jennifer Alfani at the Mizzou Invite back in November.
In the 800 freestyle relay, senior Johanna Gustafsdottir, junior Karin Tomeckova, freshman Skye Carey and Scalia posted a mark of 7:13.17, the second-fastest time in program history. Gustafsdottir’s leadoff time of 1:46.96, which counts as a 200 freestyle swim, fell .06 second short of her own school record. The 1:46.96 200 freestyle time for Gustafsdottir is a team-best this season.
Western Kentucky
The WKU swimming and diving team opened day one of the Conference USA Championship and Men’s Invitational on Wednesday in Knoxville, Tenn., as the women’s squad is tied for first while the men hold the third-place spot.
With a pair of relays in the book, the Lady Toppers are knotted at 74 points with Rice while FIU and Florida Atlantic follow with 64 and 60 points, respectively. On the men’s side, Florida Atlantic and Old Dominion are in first with 74 points each.
Both of the women’s relay posted new school records while Susan Marquess led off the 800 free relay with a school-best 1:46.32.
In the opening 200 medley relay, the Lady Toppers’ squad of Nadine Laemmler, Claire Conlon, Hannah Musser and Logan Graumann put in a second-place time of 1:38.72. The men’s team did not add points after a disqualification. In the 800 free relay, Marquess, Michelle Craddock, Sydney King and Allie Duff earned WKU’s first win after hitting the wall in 7:12.21, just .09 seconds faster than Rice’s second-place time of 7:12.30. The men’s crew of Cody Reul, Jesse Musser, John Myhre and Aymeric Le Corno bounced back with a time of 6:36.23 in the final event.
