1. Houston – 386
2. SMU – 334
3. North Texas – 322
4. Arkansas-Little Rock – 220
Houston
The University of Houston Swimming & Diving team won three relay events including freshman Laura Laderoute setting a school record in the 100 IM, en route to season-opening win at North Texas Relays at the LISD Westside Aquatic Center on Friday night.
“It’s nice to be racing again,” Head Coach Ryan Wochomurka said. “We have talked all fall about toughness and training for adverse conditions and about what it takes to be a championship program. We challenged them by traveling and competing on the same day, and I feel like they responded well to that challenge.”
The Cougars netted a team score of 386 to lead the relays with its closest competitor, defending American Athletic Conference Champions SMU, finishing with 334. Host North Texas rounded out the podium with a score of 322.
In the 300-yard backstroke relay event, the team of sophomore Eleanna Koutsouveli, freshman Laderoute and sophomore Jenny Penneck grabbed Houston’s first podium finish of the season. The trio swam the race in a time of 2:52.84, three seconds in front of second place.
Houston’s 400-yard medley relay team comprised of all newcomers - freshmen Laderoute, Peyton Kondis, Isabel Tank and Miami (Fla.) transfer Ksenia Yuskova - captured first overall. Houston’s wining medley team touched the wall at 3:53.46, beating the Houston team of Koutsouveli, Victoria Roubique, Sharo Rodriguez, Zarena Brown by 32 milliseconds.
The 1,500-yard freestyle relay team of freshman Sydney Larson and Zarena Brown and sophomore Conor Glenn seized Houston’s third first-place finish of the night. The distance team touched the wall at 15:25.35.
Leading off in the 4x100-yard individual medley relay, freshman Laderoute setting a school record in the 100-yard IM with a time of 59.77.
“Our veterans raced well, and I was very impressed with our newcomers and excited for them to get their first team win right out of the gate on the road,” Wochomurka said. “We have a lot of cleaning up to do in many areas before an extremely tough road challenge in Missouri and at home meet next Saturday.”
SMU
The SMU women's swimming and diving team picked up five event wins in an altered format relay meet hosted by North Texas at the LISD Westside Aquatic Center on Friday evening. The Mustangs picked up victories in two of the four traditional relays, including the 800-yard and 200-yard freestyle relays.
SMU opened the event with maximum points in the 300-yard butterfly relay as 2016 all-conference selectionsMarne Erasmus and Anna Cheesbrough were joined by Mustang newcomer Erin Trahan for the win.
The Mustangs also won the ladder relay featuring Hannah Rogers (50 yards), Vicky Cunningham (100 yards), Ursa Bezan (150 yards) and Maddie Hoch (200 yards), while Bezan, Trahan, Kirsty McLauchlan and Tara-Lynn Nicholas outpaced the field in the 4x100 individual medley relay.
In traditional relay action, the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Hoch, Pauli Kerr, Bezan and Cunningham out-touched American Athletic Conference opponent Houston for the win. Hoch, Bezan and Cunningham represented the Mustangs on the winning 800 free team at the conference championships a season ago, while Kerr comes in as a freestyle specialist this season.
The 200-yard freestyle relay was also part of the 10-event schedule with the winning relay including Rogers and Erasmus, who helped lead the Mustangs to a conference championship in the event last season. Freshman Trahan also joined the duo along with classmate Eva Gliozeryte.
Houston finished atop the team standings with 386 points, while the Mustangs accumulated 334 total. Host North Texas was third at 322, Little Rock finished fourth with 220 and Oklahoma Baptist used the meet as an exhibition tune-up.
The Ponies are back in action Oct. 14 & 15 when they host the 23rd annual SMU Classic. The Classic features top NCAA Division I teams in USC, Louisville, Michigan, Miami and UCLA. Each team will send eight swimmers and one diver to the two-night event. SMU returns to the Westside Aquatic Center for the event, with action beginning both evenings at 6:30 p.m. CT.
The SMU men's swimming and diving team earned eight of ten event wins in exhibition action against Oklahoma Baptist at the UNT Relays on Friday evening. The event consisted of altered format relays, as well as four traditional relays.
The Mustangs earned victories in the traditional 800 free, 400 medley and 400 free relays.
The 800 free distance featured 2016 all-conference selections Matthew Colket, Lucas Schenke and Christian Scherubl, while the 400 included Colket, Carson Klein, Nick Badsky and Grayson Magruder.
In the 400 medley Bartosz Krzyzanisk was the only repeat performer from the conference championship in 2016. He was joined by Brandon Norman, Stefan Popov and Garrett Carson for the win.
Mustangs Wins
300-yard butterfly –Norman / Carson / Jonathan Gomez
300-yard breaststroke – Ronen Faur / Stefan Popov / Ziga Cerkovnik
800-yard freestyle –Colket / Carson Klein / Schenke / Scherubl
500-yard freestyle – Nick Badsky / Klein / Duncan Brookover / Arthur Yuen
400-yard medley – Norman / Popov / Carson / Krzyzaniak
1500-yard freestyle – Schenke / Klein / Colket
4x100 IM – Norman / Kianu Kitching / Carson / Gomez
400-yard freestyle – Colket / Klein / Badsky / Magruder
The Mustangs are back in action on Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. CT for their annual intrasquad meet at the A.R. Barr Outdoor Pool. On Oct. 19 SMU hosts rival TCU at the Mansfield ISD Natatorium at 6:30 p.m. CT.
Arkansas-Little Rock
Little Rock swimming and diving took a fourth-place finish at the North Texas Relays on Friday night as it began its 2016-17 season at the LISD Aquatic Center.
The Trojans earned 220 points in the season opener as Houston won the meet with 386 points. Finishing second with 334 points was SMU, and North Texas took third with 322 points.
Little Rock's best finish of the evening occurred in the 1500-yard free relay as the team of Tori Fryar, Jinson Kang and Rachel Maradyn earned a third-place finish with a time of 15:46.77.
The Trojans placed fourth in the second 400-yard medley relay event of the evening as Laura Ruiz Astorga, Isabelle Finzen, Jessie Baldwin and Imre van Huyssteen came in with a time of 4:12.10.
In the first event of the evening, Courtney Coe, Finzen and Savannah Fissenden placed fifth in the 300-yard butterfly relay with a time of 2:58.14. Little Rock took another fifth-place finish in the 300-yard backstroke relay as Baldwin, Fissenden and Ruiz Astorga finished with a time of 3:00.67.
In the 300-yard breaststroke relay, Nuria Gallego Murcia, van Huyssteen and Ginger Bryant finished fifth with a time of 3:26.58. The Trojans finished fifth once again in the next event as Emma Doll, Fryar, Maradyn and Ruiz Astorga had a time of 7:57.34 in the 800-yard free relay.
Little Rock had another fifth-place finish, this time in the first 400-yard medley relay event as Ruiz Astorga, Gallego Murcia, Coe and Doll finished with a time of 4:01.17. The Trojans scored yet another fifth-place finish in the 200-yard free relay as Doll, Courtney Goff, Ann Kharlamova and Coe touched the wall with a time of 1:41.08.
In the final event of the North Texas Relays, the group of Coe, Fryar, Goff and Doll placed sixth in the 400-yard free relay with a time of 3:42.22.
The squad of Saidya Kistow, Cassie Sanchez, Anela Everett and Charis Won took seventh in the 500-yard free relay with a time of 5:02.40.
Little Rock will return to action next Saturday as the Trojans travel to Springfield, Missouri, for the Missouri State Invitational. The Trojans will face conference foes Missouri State, Illinois State, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois in addition to non-conference opponents Rice and Houston.
SMU Men
The SMU men's swimming and diving team earned eight of ten event wins in exhibition action against Oklahoma Baptist at the UNT Relays on Friday evening. The event consisted of altered format relays, as well as four traditional relays.
The Mustangs earned victories in the traditional 800 free, 400 medley and 400 free relays.
The 800 free distance featured 2016 all-conference selections Matthew Colket, Lucas Schenke and Christian Scherubl, while the 400 included Colket, Carson Klein, Nick Badsky and Grayson Magruder.
In the 400 medley Bartosz Krzyzanisk was the only repeat performer from the conference championship in 2016. He was joined by Brandon Norman, Stefan Popov and Garrett Carson for the win.
Mustangs Wins
300-yard butterfly –Norman / Carson / Jonathan Gomez
300-yard breaststroke – Ronen Faur / Stefan Popov / Ziga Cerkovnik
800-yard freestyle –Colket / Carson Klein / Schenke / Scherubl
500-yard freestyle – Nick Badsky / Klein / Duncan Brookover / Arthur Yuen
400-yard medley – Norman / Popov / Carson / Krzyzaniak
1500-yard freestyle – Schenke / Klein / Colket
4x100 IM – Norman / Kianu Kitching / Carson / Gomez
400-yard freestyle – Colket / Klein / Badsky / Magruder
The Mustangs are back in action on Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. CT for their annual intrasquad meet at the A.R. Barr Outdoor Pool. On Oct. 19 SMU hosts rival TCU at the Mansfield ISD Natatorium at 6:30 p.m. CT.
