For the second consecutive season, the SMU men and women’s swim and dive teams are the Conference USA Champions. The women took first in the C-USA Championship while the men were victorious in the C-USA Invitational. Numerous Mustangs broke personal, pool and meet records as they swam to victory.
Eight SMU swimmers posted NCAA B qualifying times at the three-day competition in Houston. Women’s head coach Steve Collins earned his seventh C-USA Coach of the Year award while Mustang Petra Klosova was named the female C-USA Swimmer of the Meet. In keeping with the winning environment, the men’s head coach Eddie Sinnot also claimed the title of C-USA Coach of the Year and swimmer Ian Clark took home the award for male C-USA Swimmer of the Meet.
The women’s squad scored the second-most points in championship history with a total of 853 points. The Mustangs won 14 events, taking first through third place in four events.
Juniors Anja Carman and Katie Roberts set the tone by taking No. 1 and No. 2 in the 1650-yard freestyle. Both earned NCAA B qualifying times with Carman touching the wall at 16:29.57 and Roberts following with a season-best time of 16:32.95. Carman posted another first-place win in the 200-yard backstroke with a NCAA B qualifying time of 1:59.41.
Clark won the 200-yard backstroke for the men. His NCAA B qualifying time of 1:45.38 was also a career best for the senior. Teammate Pontus Renholm finished second with a time of 1:47.80, also a career best. The men, scoring 923 points, beat teams from the University of Hawaii (890 points) and East Carolina University (731 points).
Clark’s female counterpart, Petra Klosova, set new meet and pool records with her time of 48.97 in the 100-yard freestyle. Fellow Mustang Leane Darling earned a NCAA B qualifying time with her swim of 49.69, putting her in second place.
In the men’s 100-yard freestyle, freshman Thomas Fadnes took second-place with a time of 45.19 and Shane Milu placed fourth with a of 45.40. In breaststroke, Mitchell Johnson also took second with a time of 2:02.13 in the 200-yard race while teammate Grega Plevelj swam a career-best time of 2:04.66 to touch in for fourth place.
For the women, Jenny Basel placed first in the 200 yard breaststroke setting new meet, pool and personal-best records with a time of 2:15.01. Tamara Sambralio touched in at 2:16.50 for third place and a season-best time. Mustang Justine Clark finished second in the 200 yard butterfly with a NCAA B qualifying time of 1:47.92.
In diving, Kristen Schild finished fourth in the platform diving event with a season-high score of 220.90. Preston Holocombe posted a career-high score of 290.60, good enough for third place in platform diving.
The season isn’t over for either squad as the men return to competition at the American Short Course Championship in Austin, Texas, Feb. 22-24. The women have a break until March when they will compete at the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, Minn.
