SMU Lead After Day 1 at C-USA Swimming-Diving Championships

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2009 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 25, 2009) SMU leads the field after day one action at the 2009 Conference USA Swimming & Diving Championship at the CRWC Natatorium on the campus of the University of Houston.

SMU began the evening by setting a new meet and pool record in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Therese Svendsen, Devon Callaghan, Elzanne Werth and 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, which was good for an NCAA `B' qualifying time.

Invitational member North Dakota took second (1.41.67), while the Rice claimed third place in 1:41.98, bearly touching out Houston (1:42.26) for the bronze medal.

In the 800-yard freestyle relay, SMU showed their dominance over the field with the foursome of Candace Blackman, Sasha Van den Branden, Petra Klosova and Christy-Leigh Lategan finishing in 7:07, eleven seconds ahead of second place Rice (7:18.01).

The squad of Sasha Schwendenwein, Kim Eeson, Olga Bordatcheva and Andrea Pa'lmai of host Houston took third place in the final relay, touching in 7:21.60.

SMU lead the field and all Conference USA teams with 80 points, followed by Rice in second with 66 points, Houston in fourth with 62 points, East Carolina (5th-56 points), and Marshall (6th-52 points). Invitational invitees make up the remaining places with North Dakota in 3rd place with 64 points, Northern Colorado (7th-48 points) and California State-Bakersfield (8th place-22 points)

Men's teams from league schools East Carolina and SMU along with Hawaii, Cal State Bakersfield and North Dakota are also competing in the C-USA men's invitational. SMU leads that event after day one with 114 points, followed by Hawai'i with 112 points. North Dakota sits in third with 81 points, while East Carolina (72) is in fourth and Cal State Bakersfield (56) is in fifth.

The meet resumes 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.

All-session tickets are available for only $25 for adults and $10 for youth. Single-day tickets are available for $10 for adults and $5 for students with ID. Youth includes children from 3 years old to high school. Children who are 2 years old and younger are admitted free.