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Women's Swimming Tops Rice, 154-126, Completes Weekend Sweep

PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2016 12:44 pm
by PonyPride
From SMUMustangs.com:

SMU Defeats Rice, 154-126, To Complete Weekend Dual Sweep

SOUTHLAKE, Texas (SMU) – The SMU women's swimming and diving team earned a, 154-126, victory over Rice on Saturday afternoon at the Carroll ISD Natatorium to complete the weekend dual sweep and start the season 2-0 in dual events. The Mustangs defeated American Athletic Conference opponent Houston on Friday evening. With the loss, Rice falls to 2-3 in dual meets.

Freestyle
Vicky Cunningham led the Mustangs in freestyle action for a total of six event wins this weekend including the 50 (23.83), 100 (51.52) and 200 (1:50.88) distances. Adrienn Santa (50 & 100) and Ursa Bezan (200) both finished third in the respective races.

Backstroke
Matea Samardzic was once again the swimmer to beat in the backstroke events, sweeping the races with times of 55.53 in the 100 and 1:58.41 in the 200. Agata Magner finished second in the 200 for the second-straight meet with a time of 2:02.90.

Butterfly
The 100 distance was taken by Marne Erasmus (55.06) for the second time this weekend, with Erin Trahan earning runner-up honors (56.26). In the 200, Anna Cheesbrough posted the win outpacing the group by nearly two seconds for a time of 2:04.69 for the win.

Breaststroke
SMU was led in breaststroke events by Tara-Lynn Nicholas, who placed second in the 200 (2:20.72) and third in the 100 (1:06.45). Kirsty McLauchlan also finished top three in the 200, posting a time of 2:22.64 for third place.

Individual Medley
Samardzic won her second individual medley event of the weekend, this time in the 400 distance with a time of 4:20.86.

Relays
The Mustangs closed the event with a first-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay as the team of Santa, Maddie Hoch, Trahan and Cunningham took the race in a time of 3:27.82. SMU placed second in the opening 200-yard medley relay as Samardzic, Nicholas, Erasmus and Hannah Rogers touched in 1:44.69, just .28 seconds behind Rice.

Collins On The Mustangs' Weekend
"These were great meets for our team versus very strong Houston and Rice teams this weekend," head coach Steve Collins said. "It was the first weekend for our team to swim together in the dual meet format, and I was very proud of their performances in both events. They were tested race after race and really competed well as a team. Our seniors and upperclassmen led the way for our team and that helped our freshmen compete at such a high level.

"The team really came together today to close the weekend," Collins continued. "Rice is always a strong team and they jumped out to an early lead by winning a close medley relay. Our entire team responded by stepping up race after race. I feel we learned a lot this weekend by working together as a team. That is a trait of a great team with great character."

Diving
Senior Lauren Lamb swept diving events, posting a near NCAA Zone qualifying score of 256.05 on 1 meter, and a 259.65 on 3 meter.

Stillson On Lamb's Performance
"Overall, Lauren really had a great weekend. I'm extremely please she's this close to Zone standards this early in the season," head diving coach Jim Stillson said. "She achieved the goals we had for her against Houston and was even better today. She came back sharper and won both events today. Her performance this weekend really bodes well for us the rest of the season."

SMU returns to action on Friday for a matinee dual meet against AAC foe Tulane. The event begins at 11 a.m. CT at the Mansfield ISD Natatorium. Follow live results at www.sidearmstats.com/smu/swim and on the Meet Mobile App.