Men's swimming/diving sinks TCU

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Mustangs Defeat Rival TCU In Dominating Fashion

MANSFIELD, Texas (SMU) – The SMU men's swimming and diving team won 15 of 16 events to defeat Metroplex rival TCU, 182-118, at the Mansfield ISD Natatorium on Wednesday evening. The dual-meet victory improves the Mustangs to 1-0 to start the season, while TCU falls to 0-1. With the win, SMU moves to 25-3-1 all-time against the Horned Frogs.

"The guys raced really well today," head coach Eddie Sinnott said. "These seniors really were really on a mission today and they completed it. We have a lot of work to do, but today was a very nice start.

"It was just the beginning, but we were able to see everybody and now we have a base time," Sinnott added. "That was really the best part of this meet, it put everyone on the block and showed that our depth is as large as it's been in a long time."

Junior Jonathan Gomez led the Mustangs, winning all three of his individual events. He opened individual scoring for the Ponies pacing the field in the 1,000-yard freestyle a time of 9:25.74, and won the final individual event of the night clocking a 1:52.46 in the 200-yard individual medley. In the 200-yard butterfly, the event he advanced to the semifinals in at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Gomez won by nearly three seconds registering a 1:48.40.

"[Jonathan] Gomez was really a standout for us with three event wins, and Ralph [Koo] was so impressive and surprising for us today," said Sinnott.

Freshmen Ralph Koo and Ronen Faur picked up two individual wins apiece with Koo dominating in sprint freestyle and Faur in breaststroke. Koo won both the 50 free (20.55) and 100 free (46.25), while Faur went 57.21 in the 100 distance and 2:04.66 in the 200.

Other individual event winners included junior Bartosz Krzyzaniak, who swept the backstroke events at 49.62 (100 back) and 1:49.85 (200 back), and senior Ziga Cerkovnik and junior Christian Scherubl. Cerkovnik won the 100 fly in 49.58, while Scherubl finished the 200 free in a time of 1:40.91.

SMU won both relays, opening the event with the top time in the 200-yard medley relay that included Krzyzaniak, Cerkovnik, Koo and junior Nick Badsky. The group narrowly out-touched the Horned Frogs at 1:30.67 for the win. To end the night, Koo, Badsky, Scherubl and Cerkovnik registered a time of 3:04.69 defeating TCU by nearly four seconds.

In diving action, junior Bryce Klein swept both the 1- and 3-meter springboards, posting NCAA Zone qualifying standards on both. The school record holder and defending conference champion on both boards posted a 355.34 to win the 1 meter by 56.46 points and finished with a 409.43 on the 3 meter, defeating his closest opponent by over 102 points.

"Achieving NCAA Zone standards this early in the season definitely takes a lot of the pressure of me for the season, but pressure is a huge part of the sport and in the end it all comes down to Zones," Klein said. "Moving forward I'm going to take it day-by-day and every day matters leading up to Zones."

Sophomore Stewart Brackett competed in his first-ever collegiate diving event, placing fourth on 1 meter and fifth on 3 meter.

"Stewart [Brackett] is a tremendous training partner and he is picking this up so quickly," Klein added. "He has a great attitude and I'm thankful for the energy he brings to training every day."

Runner-up finishes included Lucas Schenke (1000 free), Brandon Norman (100 back), Cerkovnik (50 free), Badsky (100 free) and Carson Klein (500 free).

"Looking forward, this was a great meet to see not what they have done, but what they need to do moving forward," Sinnott concluded.

The Mustangs return to action on Nov. 4 when they travel to Storrs, Connecticut, for a dual meet against American Athletic Conference foe Connecticut.

[RGV Pony]

Good showing at Watkins pool sounds like

[PonyPride]

Felt even more lopsided than the score. Something like seven or eight events passed before TCU won a single event.

[ready4abowl]

Nice win.

Hopefully we will be back to the days where only the freshmen swim against TCU.