Brett Denham competes in the 200-yard butterfly event during Saturday evening’s meet against the University of Texas. (John Schreiber)
The No. 20 SMU men’s swimming and diving fell to the top-ranked University of Texas Longhorns on Saturday afternoon at Perkins Natatorium. The Mustangs were able to win five out of the 15 events, but eventually lost the meet by a final score of 152-120.
While the Mustangs were unable to upset the top-ranked team in the country, some swimmers clocked season-best times and qualified for NCAA consideration.
Mustangs who recorded season bests are Thomas Fadnes in the 200-yard freestyle, Luka Vrtovec and Shane Milu in the 50-yard freestyle, Brett Denham in the 200-yard fly and Maverick Smalley in the 200-yard backstroke.
SMU fared particularly well in the 100-yard breaststroke, in which Alex Hetland took first with a time of 53.87 seconds and Grega Plevelj took third with 56.24 seconds.
The meet was scored on a 9-4-3-2-1 basis, where first through fifth place were awarded points accordingly. Since Mitchell Johnson took fifth place in the event as well, the Mustangs outscored the Longhorns 13-6 in that particular event.
SMU had similar luck in the 50-yard freestyle in which Luka Vrtovec took first with a time of 19.80 seconds and Shane Milu took third with a time of 20.75. Milu was only two milliseconds away from taking second place in the event.
In diving, Matthew Culbertson took second place with a score of 348.89 in the one-meter diving competition. The Longhorns’ Jonathan Wilcox, who barely edged Culbertson with a score of 349.05, won first place.
In the three-meter diving competition, Preston Holcombe and Landon Owen took first and second place with scores of 349.80 and 268.50, respectively.
After the 12th event, the Longhorns had secured a victory, but that did not stop the Mustangs from battling. In the 14th event, the 200-yard backstroke, the Mustangs took the top three spots and won 16 points in the process.
The Longhorns were the Mustangs’ final opponent before they go on a two-week break. It will hardly be a time for the Mustangs to rest, however, considering the Conference USA meet is only two weeks away. The C-USA event begins on Feb. 27 and goes through March 1.
