The SMU women’s swim team begins the NCAA National Championships Thursday March 21 after placing third in the Conference USA Championships with 664.50 points from several strong contributors.

At the C-USA Championships women’s swimmer Isabella Arcila won swimmer of the meet marking the fourth season in a row that an SMU swimmer has won the prestigious award. The women’s team brought in multiple golds at the meet. Isabella Arcila finished the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:55.86 and Rachel Nicol finished first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:11.00. Finishing in 49.14 seconds, sophomore Nathalie Lindborg earned first place in the 100-yard freestyle. The women’s 400-yard freestyle relay team, including Arcila, Monika Babok, Nina Rangelova and Emily Vavourakis, also won first place with a final time of 3:18.62.

Nina Rangelova finished second by just one-hundredth of a second in the 100-yard freestyle at 49.15. Deanna Matthews placed second in the 200-yard backstroke at 1:57.54.

In third place, Anna Volchkov clocked in at 1:58.75 in the 200-yard backstroke and Danielle Villars at 1:59.47 in the 200-yard butterfly.

The Mustangs will hope to keep their success going in Indianapolis, this coming Thursday, starting at 11 a.m against a deep field in the national championships.