Four Mustangs picked up top-three finishes in their respective heats on night two as the SMU women’s swimming and diving team finished fifth at the 22nd annual SMU Classic held at the Westside Aquatic Center.
Louisville scored 363 team points to earn the title of champion, while Missouri and UCLA tied for runner-up honors with 303 points each. Florida State finished fourth at 264, while SMU accumulated 244 points and TCU rounded out the group with 197. Florida State’s Megan Brown earned high point honors for the swimmers, while UCLA’s Maria Polykova picked up diving accolades.
The Mustangs’ top point scorer for the meet was junior Maddie Hoch, who earned her second runner-up finish of the classic in the 500-yard freestyle on night two. In her second meet as a Mustang she has proved to be a top performer posting a 4:48.81 in the 500 distance.
“Maddie was just awesome, the way she had great strategy for her 500,” head coach Steve Collins added. “She swam a great time, I was really pleased with that.”
Vicky Cunningham’s highest finish of the night came in the 100-yard freestyle Championship Final as she posted a 49.98, and was only out-touched by Louisville’s Kelsi Worrell and Caroline McTaggart from UCLA, who each came in under Martina Moravcova’s 1997 meet record time. Cunningham’s time also met NCAA ‘B’ standards.
Junior Kirsty McLauchlan and sophomore Adri Santa also placed third in the Consolation Finals of the 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard backstroke, respectively. Junior Ursa Bezan had a standout night in the 200-yard individual medley, clocking a career-best 2:04.63 for fourth in the first heat.
“That was just great. Ursa was strong in the 200 IM and it was really a good comeback swim. She was disappointed with her 500 and then just swam awesome in the 200 IM, so we’re really, really proud of her,” Collins said.
McLauchlan’s time in the 200 breast was an NCAA ‘B’ cut, while junior Tara-Lynn Nicholas, who swam in the Championship Final also posted a qualification standard at 2:15.46.
Mustang diver Lauren Lamb competed in the 3-meter on night two posting a 209.85 for sixth place.
“Last night in the 1-meter, tremendous performance,” head diving coach Jim Stillson said. “She really stepped up and dove as well as I could expect from her early in the year. Some of her dives she struggles with early in the season, she had a little trouble with tonight. Overall, she’s really coming along and is right where she should be.”
In relation to the altered format with only one diver from each school Stillson said it is challenging because it really helps the diver to have the moral support of the rest of your team.
“I think it is more difficult, and it certainly is more of a pressure situation because when you have your teammates there and you slip up a little bit they can cover for you. Here you slip up and it’s all you competing," Stillson added.
To open the night, the Mustang relay of senior Anna Volchkov, Nicholas, junior Marne Erasmus and Cunningham placed fifth in the 200-yard medley relay.
“Marne had a very amazing split on the 200 medley relay, probably close to what she’s done in the past at the NCAA Championships so that was really great to see,” Collins said. “She gutted it out in the 200 fly, it’s not her race, but she swam a really good one.”
SMU also placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay(Cunningham, Erasmus, Santa, Nicholas) to close the event.
“We finished strong and we competed well,” Collins added. “We swam very, very good times for where we are at this point of the season, but more importantly we were up against some great competition this weekend. It was a very strong meet and a very successful women’s Classic.”
The Mustangs return to the pool Oct. 30 and 31 with road events at American Athletic Conference opponent Houston and Rice. Friday’s event with the Cougars begins at 6 p.m. CT, while SMU takes on Rice Saturday at 12 p.m.
Event Notes:
-This is the second year the Classic has been held at the Westside Aquatic Center in Lewisville after being moved from the SMU campus.
-Two meet records were set on night two of the Classic, bringing the total to six overall (50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 800 free relay, 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay)
-SMU posted 6 NCAA ‘B’ standard times
-In all, 2 NCAA ‘A’ cuts, 55 ‘B’ cuts and three Zone Diving qualification scores were posted.
Missouri
After two days of competition, the Mizzou women’s swimming and diving team tied for second place with 303 points at the 22nd annual SMU Women’s Classic Saturday night in Lewisville, Texas. Louisville won the team title with 363 points, while UCLA also tallied 303 points to tie the Tigers for second. Florida State (264), SMU (244) and TCU (197) rounded out the standings. The Classic follows a unique format, where each team is limited to eight total swimmers and one diver, Teams send one swimmer to each event’s championship and consolation finals.
Sophomore Sharli Brady claimed Mizzou’s first championship final title of the meet with a first-place showing in the 200 fly. She touched the wall in 1:57.23, half a second ahead of the next finisher. Fellow sophomore Kira Zubar took third in the 200 fly consolation final in a time of 2:03.31.
In the 200 breast, redshirt senior Abby Duncan took second with a stellar time of 2:09.02, only a quarter of a second off her personal best in the event. Junior Katharine Ross won the consolation final in a near personal best time of 2:10.97.
Duncan then claimed first in the 200 IM consolation final with a swim of 2:01.26, while Ross placed third in the championship final in 2:01.34.
Brady placed second in the 500 free consolation final after a swim of 4:49.38, while Zubar was fifth in the championship final after touching in 4:51.76.
Sophomore Hannah Stevens swam a 1:57.28 in the 200 back championship final to finish third in the event. Junior Nadine Laemmler won her third consolation final of the meet in the consolation final after touching the wall in 1:57.45, over three seconds faster than the next finisher.
In the diving well, sophomore Kendra Kieser placed fourth on 1-meter after tallying a score of 251.90 points.
Senior Anna Patterson and Stevens clocked times of 50.70 and 50.71, respectively, in their 100 free races. Stevens took fourth in the championship final and Patterson was fourth in the consolation final.
Mizzou opened Saturday action with a fourth-place finish in the 200 medley relay after Laemmler, Duncan, Patterson and sophomore Rachel Hayden clocked a time of 1:40.60.
In the final event of the meet, Mizzou’s 200 free relay team of Patterson, Stevens, Hayden and Laemmler finished third after combining for a time of 1:32.67.
The Tigers are idle until they host Kentucky, Northwestern and Southern Illinois Friday, Nov. 6 – Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Mizzou Aquatic Center.
Florida State
Freshman Meg Brown continued to shine on the second day of the SMU Classic by winning the 200 back with a career best time of 1:56.84 before taking fourth with another personal best of 2:01.37 in the 200 IM. For her efforts, she was selected as the High Point Swimmer of the Meet.
“Today was solid,” FSU head coach Frank Bradley said. “We picked up right where we left of from yesterday. We competed well, we identified spots we need to work on but at the same time I thought we thrived at this meet. It was a great weekend.”
Senior Josie Cuda started off the evening by placing fourth in the 500 free with a time of 4:50.11 while freshman Summer Finke followed in ninth with a 4:51.95.
Sophomore Natalie Pierce followed with a career best time in the 200 breast at 2:14.20 for fourth place, while Sami Pochowski placed 10th with a 2:16.42.
In addition to Brown, senior Bianca Spinazzola swam her career best time in the 200 back at 2:02.97, placing 11th.
“Tonight we had four best times,” Bradley said. “There were also some swims that weren’t too far off of best times too, so that’s great for this time of year.”
In the 100 free, sophomore Alexi Smith posted a 50.97 for fifth place, while Pochowski swam her second event of the night taking ninth at 50.41.
Cuda swam a 2:06.09 in the 200 fly for sixth, while freshman Gracie Redding was 12th at 2:05.33.
Sophomore Caroline Gerhardt finished fifth on 3-meter with a score of 243.70.
The Seminoles finished the meet in fourth with a total of 264. Louisville won the meet with a tally of 363, followed by tie between Missouri (303) and UCLA. SMU was fifth (244) and TCU was sixth (197).
“I’m very encouraged by our progress from this weekend,” Bradley said. “We have a big weekend ahead of us and I expect us to keep competing at this high level.”
Florida State will hit the road to face Queens University and Duke in Durham on Friday before taking on NC State in Raleigh on Saturday.
