(Photo Courtesy of The University of Houston’s Athletics Communication.)

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will bring the Conference-USA title back to Dallas after a hard fought battle in Houston this past weekend.

In addition to winning the title, the women swept the medal stand in the 200-yard breaststroke.

First-year Rachel Nicol qualified for the NCAA Championships coming up in March becoming the first Mustang to do so.

SMU’s women’s swimming team won a total of 16 out of 22 events to claim the conference championships.

SMU swimmer Therese Svendsen was named Swimmer of the Meet while SMU’s coach, Steve Collins, was named Swimming Coach of the Year.

Collins won the award two previous times.

The women’s highlight of the meet was when the 400-yard freestyle relay team set a meet record completing the race 3:16.19.

The relay team consisted of Isabella Arcila, Genny Konicke, Therese Svendsen and Nina Rangelova.

The men took over the medal stand in the 100-yard freestyle starting with Mindaugas Sadauskas winning the event. Junior David Larsson came in second-place while sophomore Ryan Koops came in third.

On the diving platform, SMU continued to take the top three finishes. Freshman Devin Burnett earned his third gold of the meet and Hayden Hodges placed second. SMU sealed it with junior Richard Cornelius coming in third.

The successes in the pool and on the platform were recognized by all, and the team will continue the season with a little extra hardware around their necks.