Women’s 12th annual SMU Swimming & Diving Classic (By Vladimir Cherry, SMU Athletic Media Relations Office)

The SMU women’s swimming and diving team will compete in its 12th annual SMU Swimming & Diving Classic Friday and Saturday at Perkins Natatorium, located on the SMU campus.

The Mustangs will host participating teams Florida, South Carolina, UCLA, Washington and Wisconsin as they compete this weekend for their sixth first-place finish.

SMU won the competition in 2004, 2002, 1998, 1996 and 1995. The team finished in the top two nine times since the competition began in 1994.

Head swimming coach Steve Collins expects Florida to be the team’s biggest competition at this weekend’s Classic. Florida placed fourth last year at the NCAA championships and is one of the favorite picks for the NCAA title this year.

“We have a dual meet against them [Florida] on Thursday, and if we race heads up against them on Thursday and take it right into Friday we should be fine,” said Collins.

Collins also expects Wisconsin and UCLA to put up a challenge. According to Collins, Wisconsin combines really experienced veteran swimmers with talented new swimmers, while UCLA is much improved from last year.

The competition allows each team to create a nine-woman squad that includes eight swimmers and one diver. There are no preliminary heats in the competition, only bonus and championship heats.

Since there are no preliminary heats, SMU will need to win events to get points to come out on top. Collins said that was the key.

Collins said SMU swimming fans should look for sophomores Candace Blackman and Anja Carman and junior Celina Lemmen at the Classic this weekend.

He said these swimmers are key because each of them bring something different to the squad.

Lemmen was a top swimmer last year who had an outstanding season, Blackman contributed immediately to the team and had a great summer and Carman is a very versatile swimmer and is competitive on a natural level.

The swimming and diving competition will kickoff Friday at 7:30 p.m. Friday’s schedule of events include the 400 medley relay, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 fly, one-meter diving, 100 back, 100 breast, 50 free and 800 free relay.

The competition will conclude Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Saturday’s schedule of events include the 400 free relay, 500 free, 200 back, 200 breast, three-meter diving, 100 free, 200 fly, 200 IM and 200 free relay.

The SMU women’s swimming and diving team looks forward to the entire 2005-06 season with optimism.

The team is entering its first year in C-USA after it won nine consecutive conference championships in the WAC.

Collins predicts that Tulane, Houston and Rice are SMUs greatest challenge this year in C-USA. Collins said Houston is much improved from last year and has very strong divers. He also said that SMU competed in the WAC last year with Rice, and he knows what they have to offer.

C-USA will present a great opportunity at hand for the team, because it brings the conference championship closer to home. The WAC conference championship was at Palo Alto Community College, but now the team will travel to Houston.

Collins said the enthusiasm of the conference championship meet would be increased since it’s closer to home. Collins feels that this year’s team will have some good competition in all of the events.

The women’s swimming and diving team welcomes back a number of returnees from last year’s squad that finished seventh at the NCAA Championships.

This year they will add five new freshmen into the mix, including Jenny Basel, Katie Eason, Fredrica Felloni, Petra Klosova and Mara Morhouse.

Collins is excited for freshmen swimmer Jenny Basel, who is the only freshmen swimming in the Classic this weekend.

“We will need her this year to look to. She’s going to be great and be a large part of future tradition at SMU,” said Collins.

According to Collins, freshmen swimmer Petra Klosova won’t join the squad until January.

“We returned a lot of people and they all improved and had great performances this summer. With everyone returning with more experience, we can be ever better than last year,” said Collins.

The Mustangs look forward to defending last year’s SMU Swimming & Diving Classic title this weekend and seeking their 10th consecutive conference title but their first in C—USA.

“It definitely makes a difference when a large group shows up at the meets to support the team. The team connects to the crowd and it shows,” said Collins