On Saturday, Dec. 12, the SMU men’s swim team will compete in a meet at Texas A&M. The swim meet will be an all-day event and the sixth competition for the team in the 2010-2011 season.
This will be the last meet before winter break.
The team is currently ranked 27th in the NCAA and is certainly looking to improve its position in the meets to come.
The season opener for the Mustangs proved to be a tough loss, as they faced off against the Air Force on Oct. 23 at Perkins Natatorium. The match was close with the Air Force winning 124-119.
The most significant contributions came from sophomore Mindaugas Sadauskas who won both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle, as well as from freshman Matt Roney winning both the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard freestyle.
“On the swimming side, we had some good early season swims, but the guys are determined to get faster,” head Coach Eddie Sinnott said.
After the face off with the Air Force, the Mustangs went on to compete in the Southwest Collegiate Plunge where they would finish fifth.
Sadauskas placed second in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle.
“I am confident that we will get better as the season goes on,” Sinnott said.
In the Mustangs’ most recent meet at the Houston Cougar Classic Invitational on Nov. 20, the team placed a solid second in the competition, in both men’s and women’s.
The first place in men’s and women’s went to Louisiana State University.
Sadauskas, Roney, junior Mitchell Thompson and freshman Julian Fletcher each had notable contributions to the team’s placement in the meet.
Sadauskas finished second in the 100-yard freestyle, third in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke.
Sadauskas’ performance was key in the 200 and 400-yard medley relays in which he was the lead swim in both.
The rest of the most notable contributions came from Roney who would finish runner up in both the 200-yard free style and the 200-yard butterfly, Thompson who took third in the 500-yard freestyle and the 1650-yard freestyle, and Fletcher with a third place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Prior to their solid performance at the Cougar Classic, SMU competed in two all-day meets at Houston on Nov. 18 and 19.
In the opening act of the 2011 side of the season, the men’s team will be facing off against the University of Georgia on Jan. 7 at Perkins Natatorium at 6 p.m.
Georgia currently is ranked 12th in the NCAA with 275 points in the standings.
